Fifth Third exchanges $696M in depositary shares

Fifth Third Bancorp on Thursday announced it had exchanged $696.2 million in depositary shares as part of a plan to increase a key measurement of its capital.

The exchange helped it meet goal set by the government to raise $1.1 billion in common equity.

The results of its tender offer represented about 63 percent of the aggregate liquidation amount of its depositary shares, each of which represent 1/250th interest in a share of a series of preferred stock.

Fifth Third had offered to exchange 2,158.8272 shares of its common stock and $8,250 in cash for each set of 250 depositary shares. The offer expired on Wednesday.

The transaction will result in the issuance of about 60 million shares of common stock and the payment of $229.8 million in cash.

Having more common shares and fewer preferred shares outstanding helps build a financial company's Tier 1 equity gauge, which government regulators watch in monitoring the company's ability to weather deeper economic adversity.

Fifth Third shares rose 41 cents, or 6 percent, to $7.22 in afternoon trading Thursday.