First Community Corporation Announces Sale of Preferred Shares to the U.S. Treasury

LEXINGTON, S.C., Nov 25, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- FCCO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Today, First Community Corporation (Nasdaq: FCCO), the holding company for First Community Bank, announced that on November 21, 2008 it completed the sale of $11.4 million in preferred shares in the company to the U.S. Treasury as part of the Capital Purchase Program.

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First Community President and Chief Executive Officer, Mike Crapps, commented, "While our bank has maintained well-capitalized status throughout its thirteen year history, this additional capital further strengthens our balance sheet and our capital structure. Subsequent to receipt of this new capital our tier 1, total, and tier 1 leverage capital is approximately 13.7%, 14.7%, and 8.6%, respectively. Regulatory guidelines to be "well capitalized" are 6%, 10%, and 5%, respectively. The bank's pro forma tangible equity to tangible asset ratio will increase to approximately 6.2%. We believe that this program is an attractive source of capital and positions our already strong bank to be even stronger to take advantage of certain opportunities in the market place."

The company will pay the government a five percent dividend of $568,000 annually, for each of the first five years of the investment and nine percent thereafter unless the company redeems the shares. The government also received 10 year warrants for 195,915 shares of common stock which will give the Treasury the opportunity to benefit from an increase in the price of the company's common stock.

Crapps continued, "As a strong community bank with a focus on serving local businesses, entrepreneurs, and professionals, we are pleased to continue to serve the needs of our customers throughout our markets. The government's program was set up by the Treasury Department to provide capital to healthy financial institutions as they continue to make loans available to individuals and businesses. We will continue to make our loan decisions based on prudent and sound underwriting."

First Community Corporation stock trades on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol "FCCO" and is the holding company for First Community Bank, a local community bank based in the midlands of South Carolina. First Community Bank operates eleven banking offices located in Lexington, Forest Acres, Irmo, Gilbert, Cayce -- West Columbia, Chapin, Northeast Columbia, Newberry, Prosperity, Red Bank and Camden. Total assets for the Company were $633.9 million at September 30, 2008 and shareholders' equity at September 30, 2008 was $57.0 million.

Certain statements in this news release contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, such as statements relating to future plans and expectations, and are thus prospective. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, such as a downturn in the economy, which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Although we believe that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of the assumptions could prove to be inaccurate. Therefore, we can give no assurance that the results contemplated in the forward-looking statements will be realized. The inclusion of this forward-looking information should not be construed as a representation by our company or any person that the future events, plans, or expectations contemplated by our company will be achieved. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

SOURCE First Community Corporation

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