Investar Holding Corporation Announces Closing of Subordinated Notes Offering

BATON ROUGE, La., March 24, 2017 -- Investar Holding Corporation (“Investar”) (NASDAQ:ISTR), the parent holding company of Investar Bank, today announced the closing of its underwritten public offering of $18.6 million in Fixed-to-Floating Rate Subordinated Notes due 2027 (the “Notes”). 

The Notes will initially bear interest at 6.00% per annum, payable semi-annually in arrears commencing on September 30, 2017, with interest commencing on the issue date, to, but excluding, March 30, 2022, and, thereafter, payable quarterly in arrears, at an annual floating rate equal to three-month LIBOR (but not less than zero) as determined for the applicable quarterly period, plus 3.945%. The Notes will mature on March 30, 2027. The Notes were offered to the public at par.

Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P. served as the sole book-running manager for the Notes offering.  Investar intends to use the net proceeds of the Notes offering to fund a portion of the purchase price of its recently announced proposed merger transaction with Citizens Bancshares, Inc. and for general corporate purposes, including investments in Investar Bank.

This press release will not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor will there be any sale of these securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. Registration statements relating to these securities have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are effective, and the offering is being made only by means of a prospectus. A written prospectus for this offering may be obtained without charge by visiting the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or may be obtained from Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P., 1251 Avenue of the Americas, 6th Floor, New York, New York 10020, Attn: Syndicate Operations, Telephone Number: 1-866-805-4128.

About Investar

Investar Holding Corporation, headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, provides full banking services, excluding trust services, through its wholly-owned banking subsidiary, Investar Bank, a state chartered bank.  Investar’s primary market is South Louisiana and it currently operates 10 full service banking offices located throughout its market. At December 31, 2016, Investar had 152 full-time equivalent employees.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may include forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations and assumptions about our business that are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those described in this press release. You should not rely on forward-looking statements as a prediction of future events.

Additional information regarding factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in any forward-looking statements are described in reports and registration statements we file with the SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, copies of which are available on Investar’s internet website http://www.investarbank.com.

Investar disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements or any changes in events, conditions or circumstances upon which any forward-looking statement may be based except as required by law.

Contact:
Investar Holding Corporation
Chris Hufft
Chief Financial Officer
(225) 227-2215
[email protected]