FirstMerit Corp. Falls on Stock Offering

Shares of FirstMerit Corp. FMER are selling off by 5.66% today, currently trading $20.03. This comes after the company announced that it has commenced an underwritten public offering of $315 million of its common stock. The purpose of the offering includes: to provide additional capital to FirstMerit Bank. FirstMerit intends to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 15% of the number of shares sold in the offering to cover over-allotments, if any. FirstMerit Corp. also announced that it intends to acquire Midwest Bank and Trust via purchase and assumption agreement with FDIC. FMER expects acquisition to be accretive to EPS in FY10.