The $50 million will let TriState make hundreds of millions of dollars in new loans, typically to midsize businesses with over $10 million in yearly sales.
"This will allow us to continue to grow, with our capital levels well above where they need to be," Joe Finley, president of the bank's Philadelphia-area region, told me.
"We look at ourselves as a growth company in a non-growth industry."
TriState clients include a growing list of active Philadelphia-area companies: Main Line investors Milestone Capital Partners and Guardian Capital Partners; municipal-finance adviser PFM Group; Warminster police equipment-maker Havis Inc.; developer Silverang Hallowell Development Co., of St. Davids; and Philadelphia-based shopping-mall landlord PREIT, among others.
Taxpayers v. bondholders
In Harrisburg's long-running financial fight with the state over the city's overripe debt, Commonwealth Court Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter late Monday gave state-appointed Harrisburg receiver William Lynch part of what he wanted, over protests by Harrisburg's City Council and financial officers.
Leadbetter ordered Harrisburg to double the income tax to 2 percent for at least a year, to be extended with the court's permission. But she insisted that the money raised by the tax be used only for "public health, safety or welfare," adding that "no payments shall be made on debt" associated with the troubled Harrisburg incinerator, or on public schools, without further court permission.
"The situation in Harrisburg has intensified in recent weeks," said Connecticut-based bond-watcher Matt Fabian, in his Municipal Market Advisers newsletter last week. Fabian said bond ratings could be lowered across Pennsylvania if Harrisburg is able to stall or stop the state's attempt to force repayment of its bond debt.
City Controller Dan Miller and some other Harrisburg officials have been rallying city residents to oppose the state's attempt to force its solutions. Officials have also filed state and federal lawsuits challenging the state's powers. The receiver's plan to sell the incinerator to the Lancaster Solid Waste Authority and to sell city parking garages also face complications.
Moody's expects Harrisburg will file for federal bankruptcy protection, which could give it more clout in trimming bond payments.
Harrisburg doesn't need to win the war; delays and partial victories that leave some city assets beyond the reach of the state "would have a chilling effect on the perception of credit quality across the state," if other cash-strapped towns head down Harrisburg's road, he wrote.
Sold
Saw Mill Capital L.L.C., Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., has agreed to buy testing-equipment supplier
Pine Environmental Services Inc., based in Windsor Township, near Trenton, from founders
Angelo and
Roger Pinheiro, and
Robert A. Fox's RAF Industries Inc., which has backed Pine since 2005.
Saw Mill agreed to invest more than $70 million in equity and assumed debt. Pine calls itself "the largest independent provider of environmental test and measurement equipment solutions in North America."
The brothers, from an immigrant Portuguese family, started the business in 1995, and expanded from nine national offices to 16 since Fox invested. The pair will work with Saw Mill "to transition to our next stage of growth," said younger brother Angelo Pinheiro, 40, in a statement. RAF advisors included Patrick Hanraty and his team from PNC Bank-affiliate Harris Williams & Co. in Philadelphia.
Contact Joseph N. DiStefano at 215-854-5194, JoeD@phillynews.com or on Twitter @PhillyJoeD.
