First BanCorp. Announces that THL and Oaktree Commence Secondary Offering of 18 Million Shares

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico--(BUSINESS WIRE)--First BanCorp. (the “Corporation”) (NYSE:FBP), the bank holding company for FirstBank Puerto Rico, announced today that certain stockholders have commenced a proposed public underwritten offering, subject to market and other conditions, of an aggregate of 18 million shares of the Corporation’s common stock, $0.10 par value per share (the “Common Stock”), that they currently own. Funds affiliated with Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. (“THL”) are offering to sell 9 million shares of Common Stock; and funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. (“Oaktree”) are offering to sell 9 million shares of Common Stock. Upon completion of the proposed offering, THL’s beneficial ownership of Common Stock will decrease from 19.3% to 15.1% (14.5% if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares of Common Stock in full), and Oaktree’s beneficial ownership of Common Stock will decrease from 19.3% to 15.1% (14.5% if the underwriters exercise their option to purchase additional shares of Common Stock in full). The Corporation will not receive any of the proceeds from the proposed offering.

BofA Merrill Lynch, Goldman, Sachs & Co., Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P. will act as joint book-running managers for the proposed Common Stock offering. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and Piper Jaffray & Co. will act as co-managers.

The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus. A copy of the preliminary prospectus supplement together with the accompanying prospectus relating to the proposed offering may be obtained from:

BofA Merrill Lynch	Goldman, Sachs & Co.	Citigroup Global Markets Inc.	Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P.
NC1-004-03-43 200 North College Street, 3rd floor Charlotte, NC 28255-0001 Attn: Prospectus Department [e-mail]	Attn: Prospectus Department 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282 [e-mail] [phone]	c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717 [phone]	Attn: Syndicate Department [e-mail] [phone]

This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, shares of Common Stock in any jurisdiction in which such an offer or solicitation, or the sale of shares of Common Stock, would be unlawful without registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. Any offer to sell, or solicitation of an offer to buy, will be made solely by means of a prospectus and related prospectus supplement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). A shelf registration statement related to the proposed offering was filed with the SEC and became effective February 29, 2016.

About First BanCorp.

First BanCorp. is the parent corporation of FirstBank Puerto Rico, a state-chartered commercial bank with operations in Puerto Rico, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and Florida, and of FirstBank Insurance Agency. Among the subsidiaries of FirstBank Puerto Rico are First Federal Finance Corp. and First Express, both small loan companies, and FirstBank Puerto Rico Securities, a broker-dealer subsidiary. First BanCorp’s shares of common stock trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “FBP.”