Griffin Financial Group Serves as Advisor and Placement Agent to Meridian Bank in Connection with its Private Placement of Subordinated Notes to Accredited Investors

Situation
Meridian Bank, Malvern, PA, a de novo bank established in 2004, operates two full service branches and 12 mortgage offices throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. At June 30, 2014, the bank had $560 million in total assets, $496 million in gross loans and $435 million in deposits.

Meridian has delivered significant growth since its inception and was in need of additional capital to support growth potential going forward. Meridian’s five year CAGR on loan growth exceeded 15% and is the hallmark of its success. Due to its balance sheet having a higher percentage of risk-weighted assets to total assets, Meridian needed to address its capital structure, too. To continue on a path of growth on an uninterrupted basis, additional tier-2 qualifying capital was needed in an expedited manner.

Solution
After analyzing Meridian’s growth relative to its capital and capital structure, Meridian engaged Griffin Financial Group to advise on the form, sizing and pricing of supplementary capital and to market the offering. Griffin ultimately determined a raise of Tier-2 qualifying subordinated notes would be a cost-effective means to support growth while being mindful of capital structure. With Griffin’s assistance, Meridian placed $10 million of subordinated notes with accredited investors.

Measures of Success
Meridian focused on its regulatory capital while supporting the growth needs of the company in a cost-effective manner. Griffin focused on a wide array of investor pools in which to place the capital. The placement provides Meridian with an additional 135bps of risk-based capital in which to deploy into earning asset growth.