Financial News

Comerica Announces $800 Million Common Stock Offering

DALLAS, March 8, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Comerica Incorporated today announced that it has commenced a public offering of approximately $800 million of its common stock for sale to the public.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010807/CMALOGO)

The shares will be issued pursuant to a prospectus supplement filed as part of an existing shelf registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Form S-3. Comerica intends to grant the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 10 percent of the shares sold to cover over-allotments, if any.

Subject to consultation with its banking regulators, Comerica intends to notify the U.S. Department of the Treasury of its intention to redeem all 2,250,000 shares of its Series F, Fixed Rate Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, as issued to the Treasury under its Capital Purchase Program. If permitted to do so, Comerica intends to fund a portion of any such redemption with the proceeds of this offering.

J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. is serving as sole book-running manager of the offering.

This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of any offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any offer or sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus, copies of which may be obtained from J.P. Morgan Securities, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York 11717, Attention: Prospectus Department or by calling (866) 803-9204.

Comerica Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ralph W. Babb Jr., Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Elizabeth S. Acton, and Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer John M. Killian will hold a conference call for investors today at 4:00 p.m. CT regarding this announcement. Interested parties may access the conference call by calling (800) 309-2262 or (706) 679-5261 (event ID No. 61582585).

Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA) is a financial services company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and strategically aligned by three business segments: The Business Bank, The Retail Bank, and Wealth & Institutional Management. Comerica focuses on relationships, and helping people and businesses be successful. In addition to Texas, Comerica Bank locations can be found in Arizona, California, Florida and Michigan, with select businesses operating in several other states, as well as in Canada and Mexico. Comerica reported total assets of $59.2 billion at December 31, 2009.

Forward-looking Statements

Any statements in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipates," "believes," "feels," "expects," "estimates," "seeks," "strives," "plans," "intends," "outlook," "forecast," "position," "target," "mission," "assume," "achievable," "potential," "strategy," "goal," "aspiration," "outcome," "continue," "remain," "maintain," "trend," "objective" and variations of such words and similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should," "could," "might," "can," "may" or similar expressions, as they relate to Comerica or its management, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are predicated on the beliefs and assumptions of Comerica's management based on information known to Comerica's management as of the date of this news release and do not purport to speak as of any other date. Forward-looking statements may include descriptions of plans and objectives of Comerica's management for future or past operations, products or services, and forecasts of Comerica's revenue, earnings or other measures of economic performance, including statements of profitability, business segments and subsidiaries, estimates of credit trends and global stability. Such statements reflect the view of Comerica's management as of this date with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks materialize or should underlying beliefs or assumptions prove incorrect, Comerica's actual results could differ materially from those discussed. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences are further economic downturns, changes in the pace of an economic recovery and related changes in employment levels, changes in real estate values, fuel prices, energy costs or other events that could affect customer income levels or general economic conditions, changes related to the headquarters relocation or to its underlying assumptions, the effects of recently enacted legislation, actions taken by or proposed by the U.S. Department of Treasury, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Texas Department of Banking and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporationor other governmental entities, legislation enacted in the future, and the expiration of such legislation and regulatory actions, the effects of war and other armed conflicts or acts of terrorism, the effects of natural disasters including, but not limited to, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, fires, droughts and floods, the disruption of private or public utilities, the implementation of Comerica's strategies and business models, management's ability to maintain and expand customer relationships, changes in customer borrowing, repayment, investment and deposit practices, management's ability to retain key officers and employees, changes in the accounting treatment of any particular item, the impact of regulatory examinations, declines or other changes in the businesses or industries in which Comerica has a concentration of loans, including, but not limited to, the automotive production industry and the real estate business lines, the anticipated performance of any new banking centers, the entry of new competitors in Comerica's markets, changes in the level of fee income, changes in applicable laws and regulations, including those concerning taxes, banking, securities and insurance, changes in trade, monetary and fiscal policies, including the interest rate policies of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, fluctuations in inflation or interest rates, changes in general economic, political or industry conditions and related credit and market conditions, the interdependence of financial service companies and adverse conditions in the stock market. Comerica cautions that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. For discussion of factors that may cause actual results to differ from expectations, please refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, please refer to "Item 1A. Risk Factors" beginning on page 11 of Comerica's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Comerica does not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect facts, circumstances, assumptions or events that occur after the date the forward-looking statements are made. For any forward-looking statements made in this news release or in any documents, Comerica claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

SOURCE: Comerica Incorporated

Press releases, archived webcasts/presentations/conference calls, and SEC filings speak only to the date they are issued, made or filed, respectively. Investors should not rely on such information as being unchanged in making investment decisions.

Press releases, archived webcasts/presentations/conference calls, and SEC filings speak only to the date they are issued, made or filed, respectively. Investors should not rely on such information as being unchanged in making investment decisions.