FMAR the next DEAR

FMAR read the news as ceo was buying the stock and fmar has a small float of5 mil shares.First Mariner Bancorp said Friday that CEO and Chairman Edwin F. Hale Sr. has acquired 1.6 million shares in the company as part of a transaction approved by shareholders March 19.

Hale swapped $20 million in First Mariner debt for $2 million in stock, which equals 1.6 million shares at $1.23 a share, the average closing price during the previous 20 trading days, the company said. Hale also received warrants to purchase another 325,203 shares as part of a stock sale company officials have said would reduce debt and boost capital levels at the company’s First Mariner Bank subsidiary.

Other First Mariner directors and executives will exchange an additional $6 million in First Mariner debt for $600,000 in company stock under the plan approved by shareholders last month.

“The completed transaction provides multiple benefits to the company by cancelling $20 million of debt and increasing our equity and moves us forward in meeting our consolidated capital ratio requirements,” Hale said in a press release.

The transaction now gives Hale more than 2.8 million shares in First Mariner, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That doubled his stake from the more than 1.4 million shares, or 21.7 percent of the company, he owned on Jan. 27.

First Mariner (NASDAQ: FMAR) is the parent company of First Mariner Bank, the largest bank headquartered in Baltimore.

An Oregon company has purchased a 6.7 percent stake in First Mariner Bancorp, making it one of the Baltimore bank’s largest shareholders.

Medford, Ore.-based LTC Global Inc. bought 1.18 million First Mariner (NASDAQ: FMAR) shares at $1.15 a share, for a total $1.36 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. First Mariner, led by CEO Edwin F. Hale Sr., is the corporate parent of First Mariner Bank, the largest independent bank in Baltimore.

LTC Global, a privately held marketer of long-term care insurance, annuities, reverse mortgages and other financial and insurance products sold to seniors, became familiar with First Mariner during negotiations to purchase First Mariner?s Next Generation Financial Services reverse mortgage business, said Daniel G. Schmedlen Jr., LTC?s general counsel and vice president, in an interview Tuesday. The deal to purchase First Mariner?s Next Generation unit is expected to close later this year. Terms of the price have not been disclosed.

LTC executives decided to purchase the shares because they were impressed with First Mariner?s management and the direction in which the company is going, Schmedlen said. The shares were purchased purely as an investment.

?We just want to make it clear that we have no intention of influencing management or taking control of the bank,? Schmedlen said.