Pinnacle Financial will offer $100M in stock

Bank operator Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. said Wednesday it launched a public offering of $100 million in shares.

Underwriters have an option to buy up to an additional 15 percent of the offered amount of common stock from Pinnacle at the public offering price, minus costs, within 30 days.

Net proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including providing additional capital for Pinnacle National Bank and the possible repurchase from the U.S. Treasury of $95 million of preferred shares and warrants issued in connection with the TARP Capital Purchase Program.

Pinnacle currently has about 24.1 million shares outstanding. At the stock's Wednesday closing price of $14.36, the offering would total nearly 7 million shares.