The recession has meant a precipitous drop in the number of M&A deals this year, meaning less work for investment bankers and lawyers
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But one segment of law firms’ corporate practice groups remains strong—advising banks and financial institutions. In the past month, two South Carolina banks turned to Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough for legal counsel on securities offerings.
Nelson Mullins partners Neil Grayson and John Jennings were counsel to SCBT Financial Corp. of Columbia and First Community Corp. of Lexington on securities work. Grayson works out of Nelson Mullins’ offices in Atlanta and Greenville, S.C. Jennings works in Greenville.
SCBT Financial raised about $27 million in a private placement of 1.01 million shares of common stock.
First Community sold $11.4 million in preferred stock to the U.S. Treasury as part of its Troubled Asset Relief Program Capital Purchase Program. First Community also sold 195,915 in 10-year warrants to Treasury.
SCBT Financial operates South Carolina Bank and Trust, as well as four offices of The Scottish Bank in North Carolina. First Community operates 11 offices of First Community Bank in the Columbia, S.C. area.