Republic First shares down after stock offer

Shares in Republic First Bancorp Inc. tumbled 5.6 percent Wednesday to $2.67 following the Philadelphia bank's announcement Tuesday that it would offer $30 million worth of its common stock for sale.

The company's market value was $28 million. Republic First, which is in the process of changing its brand to Republic Bank under the leadership of numerous former Commerce Bank executives, said it would use the proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes.

Commerce Bank founder Vernon W. Hill II owns 7.6 percent of Republic, but does not have an executive position there. Republic has 12 branches in the region and has plans to add three in South Jersey, subject to regulatory approval.

Republic had $967.5 million in assets at the end of March, but nearly 5 percent of them were not performing as expected.    - Harold Brubaker