Filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(7)

Registration No. 333-155637

Subject to Completion

Preliminary Prospectus Supplement dated February 7, 2011

 

PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT

(To prospectus dated March 9, 2009)

Wintrust Financial Corporation

 

 

 

		Per Warrant		Total
Public offering price		$		$
Underwriting discounts and commissions		$		$
Proceeds, before expenses, to the selling security holder		$		$

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

Prospectus Supplement

 

 

This prospectus supplement incorporates by reference important business and financial information about us that is not included in or delivered with this document. This information, other than exhibits to documents that are not specifically incorporated by reference in this prospectus, is available to you without charge upon written or oral request to Wintrust Financial Corporation at the address or telephone number indicated in the section titled “Where You Can Find More Information” in this prospectus supplement.

 

This document is in two parts. The first part is this prospectus supplement, which contains specific information about us and the terms on which the selling security holder is selling the warrants. The second part is the accompanying prospectus dated March 9, 2009, which contains and incorporates by reference important business and financial information about us and other information about the offering.

 

You should rely only on the information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus or in any free writing prospectus. Neither we nor any underwriter or agent nor the selling security holder has authorized anyone to provide you with different information. If anyone provides you with different or inconsistent information, you should not rely on it. This prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and any relevant free-writing prospectus do not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy by anyone in any jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation is not authorized, or in which the person is not qualified to do so or to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation. You should assume that the information appearing in this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference in either this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus is accurate only as of their respective dates. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since those dates.

 

Before you invest in our warrants or our common stock, you should carefully read the registration statement (including the exhibits thereto) of which this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus form a part, this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus. The incorporated documents are described under “Where You Can Find More Information.”

 

Unless the context indicates otherwise, the terms “Wintrust,” “Company,” “we” and “our” in this prospectus supplement refer to Wintrust Financial Corporation and its subsidiaries. References to a particular year mean the Company’s year commencing on January 1 and ending on December 31 of that year.

 

This prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus, and any documents which we incorporated by reference may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. Forward-looking information can be identified through the use of words such as “intend,” “plan,” “project,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “contemplate,” “possible,” “point,” “will,” “may,” “should,” “would” and “could.” Forward-looking statements and information are not historical facts, are premised on many factors and assumptions, and represent only management’s expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events. Similarly, these statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, which may include, but are not limited to, those listed below and the Risk Factors discussed under Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, Item 1A of our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended June 30, 2010 and September 30, 2010 and in any of our subsequent SEC filings. The Company intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and is including this statement for purposes of invoking these safe harbor provisions. Such forward-looking statements may be deemed to include, among other things, statements relating to our future financial performance, the performance of our loan portfolio, the expected amount of future credit reserves and charge-offs, delinquency trends, growth plans, regulatory developments, securities that the Company may offer from time to time, and management’s long-term performance goals, as well as statements relating to the anticipated effects on financial condition and results of operations from expected developments or events, our business and growth strategies, including future acquisitions of banks, specialty finance or wealth management businesses, internal growth and plans to form additional de novo banks or branch offices. Actual results could differ materially from those addressed in the forward-looking statements as a result of numerous factors, including the following:

 

 

 

Therefore, there can be no assurances that future actual results will correspond to these forward-looking statements. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement made by or on behalf of Wintrust. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that arise after the date the forward-looking statement was made.

 

We file annual, quarterly, and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission, referred to as the “SEC.” Our SEC filings are available to the public over the Internet at the SEC’s web site at http://www.sec.gov and on the investor relations page of our website at http://www.wintrust.com. Except for those SEC filings incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, none of the other information on our website is part of this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus. You may also read and copy any document we file with the SEC at its public reference facilities at 100 F Street N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. You can also obtain copies of the documents upon the payment of a duplicating fee to the SEC. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the operation of the public reference facilities.

 

You should rely only on the information incorporated by reference or provided in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. Neither we nor the selling security holder have authorized anyone else to provide you with different information or to make any representations other than as contained in this prospectus supplement and in the accompanying prospectus. This prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and any relevant free-writing prospectus do not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy by anyone in any jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation is not authorized, or in which the person is not qualified to do so or to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation. Our website address is http://www.wintrust.com. Except for those SEC filings posted on our website and incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, none of the other information on our website is part of this prospectus supplement or the accompanying prospectus.

 

The SEC allows us to incorporate by reference much of the information that we file with it, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those publicly available documents. The information that we incorporate by reference is an important part of this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference in this prospectus will be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this prospectus to the extent that a statement contained in this prospectus or in any other subsequently filed document that also is or is deemed to be incorporated by reference in this prospectus modifies or supersedes that statement. Any statement that is modified or superseded will not constitute a part of this prospectus, except as modified or superseded.

 

This prospectus supplement incorporates by reference the documents listed below and any filings we make with the SEC under Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14, or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 after the initial filing of the registration statement related to this prospectus supplement until the termination of the offering of the securities described in this prospectus supplement; provided, however, that we are not incorporating by reference any documents, portions of documents or other information that is deemed to have been “furnished” and not “filed” with the SEC:

 

 

You may request a copy of these filings, other than an exhibit to a filing unless that exhibit is specifically incorporated by reference into that filing, at no cost, by writing to us at the following address or calling us at the following telephone number:

 

Investor Relations

Wintrust Financial Corporation

727 North Bank Lane

Lake Forest, Illinois 60045

(847) 615-4096

 

PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

 

THE OFFERING

Issuer		Wintrust Financial Corporation
Warrants offered by the selling security holder		1,643,295 warrants, each of which represents the right to purchase one share of our common stock, no par value per share, at an exercise price of $22.82 per share (subject to adjustment). The number of warrants sold will depend on the number of bids received and whether the selling security holder decides to sell any warrants in the auction process. The exercise price of the warrants cannot be paid in cash and is payable only by netting out a number of shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants with a market value equal to the aggregate exercise price of the warrants at the time of exercise. The warrants are currently exercisable and expire on December 19, 2018. See “Auction Process” in this prospectus supplement.
Common stock outstanding before and after this offering		34,925,334 shares.
Auction process		The selling security holder and the underwriter will determine the public offering price and the allocation of the warrants in this offering through an auction process conducted by Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., referred to as “Deutsche Bank Securities,” the sole book-running manager, in its capacity as the auction agent. The auction process will entail a modified “Dutch auction” mechanic in which bids may be submitted through the auction agent or one of the other brokers that is a member of the broker network, collectively referred to as the “network brokers,” established in connection with the auction process. Each broker will make suitability determinations with respect to its own customers wishing to participate in the auction process. The auction agent will not provide bidders, including us, if we decide to bid, with any information about the bids of other bidders or auction trends, or with advice regarding bidding strategies, in connection with the auction. We may bid, but we are not required to bid, in the auction for some or all of the warrants. We encourage you to discuss any

		questions regarding the bidding process and suitability determinations applicable to your bids with your broker. For more information about the auction process, see “Auction Process” in this prospectus supplement.
Minimum bid price and price increments		The offering will be made using an auction process in which prospective purchasers are required to bid for the warrants. During the auction period, bids may be placed by qualifying bidders at any price (in increments of $0.10) at or above the minimum bid price of $13.50 per warrant. See “Auction Process” in this prospectus supplement.
Minimum bid size		100 warrants.
Submission deadline		The auction will commence at 8:00 a.m., New York City time, on the date specified by the auction agent via press release prior to the opening of the equity markets on such day, and will close at 6:30 p.m., New York City time, on the same day, referred to as the “submission deadline.”
Irrevocability of bids		Bids that have not been modified or withdrawn by the time of the submission deadline are final and irrevocable, and bidders who submit successful bids will be obligated to purchase the warrants allocated to them. The auction agent is under no obligation to reconfirm bids for any reason; however, the auction agent may require that bidders confirm their bids at its discretion before the auction process closes. See “Auction Process” in this prospectus supplement.
Clearing price		The price at which the warrants will be sold to the public will be the clearing price set by the auction process. The clearing price will be determined based on the valid, irrevocable bids at the time of the submission deadline as follows:
		• If valid, irrevocable bids are received for 100% or more of the number of warrants being offered, the clearing price will be equal to the highest price in the auction process at which the quantity of all bids at or above such

		price equals 100% or more of the number of warrants being offered in the auction.
		• If bids are received for half or more, but less than all, of the offered warrants, the clearing price will be equal to the minimum bid price of $13.50 per warrant.
		Unless the selling security holder decides not to sell any warrants or as otherwise described below, the warrants will be sold to bidders at the clearing price. Even if bids are received for 100% or more of the warrants being offered, the selling security holder may decide not to sell any warrants in the auction, regardless of the clearing price. If the selling security holder decides to sell warrants in the auction, after the selling security holder confirms its acceptance of the clearing price, and, in the case where bids are received for less than 100% of the warrants being offered, the number of warrants to be sold, the auction agent and each network broker that has submitted bids will notify successful bidders that the auction process has closed and that their bids have been accepted (subject in some cases to pro-ration, as described below). The clearing price and number of warrants being sold are also expected to be announced via press release prior to the opening of the equity markets on the business day following the end of the auction. See “Auction Process” in this prospectus supplement.
Number of warrants to be sold		If bids are received for half or more, but less than all, of the offered warrants, then the selling security holder may, but is not required to, sell at the minimum bid price in the auction process (which will be deemed the clearing price) as many warrants as it chooses to sell up to the number of warrants for which bids were received in the auction, so long as at least half of the offered warrants are sold and the warrants remain eligible for listing. If bids are received for less than half of the offered warrants, the selling security holder will not sell any warrants

		in this offering. Even if bids are received for all of the warrants, the selling security holder may decide not to sell any warrants, regardless of the clearing price. If bids are received for all of the offered warrants and the selling security holder elects to sell warrants in the auction process, the selling security holder must sell all of the offered warrants. See “Auction Process” in this prospectus supplement.
Allocation; pro-ration		If bids for all the warrants offered in this offering are received, and the selling security holder elects to sell warrants in the offering, then any bids submitted in the auction above the clearing price will receive allocations in full, while any bids submitted at the clearing price may experience pro-rata allocation. If bids for half or more, but fewer than all, of the warrants offered in this offering are received, and the selling security holder chooses to sell fewer warrants than the number of warrants for which bids were received, then all bids will experience equal pro-rata allocation. See “Auction Process” in this prospectus supplement.
Our participation in the auction		We are permitted to participate in the auction by submitting bids for the warrants. Although we are under no obligation to participate in the auction, if we elect to participate we will not receive preferential treatment of any kind and will participate on the same basis as all other bidders, except that we will be required to submit any final bid we may enter by 6:00 p.m., New York City time, on the day on which the auction process is conducted (i.e., our final bids will be due 30 minutes before those of other bidders). You will not be notified by either the auction agent, the network brokers or the selling security holder whether we have bid in the auction process or, should we elect to participate in the auction process, the terms of any bid or bids we may place.
Use of proceeds		We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of any of the warrants offered by the selling security holder.
Risk factors		See “Risk Factors” and other information included or incorporated by reference in

		this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus for a discussion of factors you should consider carefully before deciding to invest in the warrants.
Listing		We have applied to list the warrants on NASDAQ under the symbol “WTFCW.” Our common stock is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol “WTFC.”
Warrant agent		Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
Auction agent		Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.
Network brokers		See page S-27 for a list of brokers participating as network brokers in the auction process.

	•	2,756,758 shares of common stock issuable or reserved for issuance under our equity compensation plans as of February 3, 2011, including:

	•	2,013,976 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options, at a weighted average exercise price of $39.27 per share;
	•	352,685 shares of common stock issuable upon the vesting of restricted stock unit awards; and
	•	390,097 shares of common stock reserved for issuance under our equity compensation plans;

	•	1,944,000 shares of common stock issuable upon conversion of our Series A Preferred Stock at a conversion rate of 38.88 shares of common stock per share of Series A Preferred Stock;
	•	19,000 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of warrants issued in connection with certain acquisitions outstanding as of February 3, 2011, at a weighted average exercise price of $30.50 per share;
	•	Up to 7,666,360 shares issuable in settlement of the stock purchase contracts contained in our tangible equity units; and
	•	1,643,295 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of the warrants offered in this offering.

 

An investment in our securities is subject to risks inherent to our business. Before making an investment decision, you should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below together with the information included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended June 30, 2010 and September 30, 2010 and in other documents that we subsequently file with the SEC, all of which are incorporated by reference into this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. Additional risks and uncertainties that management is not aware of or that management currently deems immaterial may also impair Wintrust’s business operations. The warrants are not an appropriate investment for you if you are not knowledgeable about significant features of the warrants, our common stock or financial matters in general. This prospectus supplement is qualified in its entirety by these risk factors. If any of these risks actually occur, our financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. If this were to happen, the value of our securities could decline significantly, and you could lose all or part of your investment.

 

Risks Related to the Auction Process

 

The price of the warrants could decline rapidly and significantly following this offering.

 

The public offering price of the warrants, which will be the clearing price, will be determined through an auction process conducted by the selling security holder and the auction agent. Although we have applied to list the warrants on NASDAQ under the symbol “WTFCW,” prior to this offering there has been no public market for the warrants, and the public offering price may bear no relation to market demand for the warrants once trading begins. We have been informed by both Treasury and Deutsche Bank Securities, as the auction agent, that they believe that the bidding process will reveal a clearing price for the warrants offered in the auction, which will be either the highest price at which all of the warrants offered may be sold to bidders, if bids are received for 100% or more of the offered warrants, or the minimum bid price of $13.50, if bids are received for half or more, but less than all, of the offered warrants. If there is little or no demand for the warrants at or above the public offering price once trading begins, then the price of the warrants would likely decline following this offering. Limited or less-than-expected liquidity in the warrants, including decreased liquidity due to a sale of less than all of the warrants being offered or a purchase of warrants by us in the auction, if any, could also cause the trading price of the warrants to decline. In addition, the auction process may lead to more volatility in, or a decline in, the trading price of the warrants after the initial sale of the warrants in this offering.

 

The minimum bid price set for the warrants in this offering may bear no relation to the price of the warrants after the offering.

 

Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for the warrants. The minimum bid price set forth in this prospectus supplement was agreed to by Deutsche Bank Securities, the sole book-running manager of this offering, and Treasury. We did not participate in the determination of the minimum bid price and therefore cannot provide any information regarding the factors that Treasury and Deutsche Bank Securities considered in such determination. An analysis of the value of complex securities such as the warrants is necessarily uncertain as it may depend on several key variables, including, for example, the volatility of the trading prices of the underlying security. The difficulty associated with determining the value of the warrants is further increased by the substantial time period during which the warrants can be exercised. We cannot assure you that the price at which the warrants will trade after completion of the offering will exceed the minimum bid price, or that Treasury will choose to or will

succeed in selling any or all of the warrants at a price equal to or in excess of the minimum bid price.

 

The auction process for this offering may result in a phenomenon known as the “winner’s curse,” and, as a result, investors may experience significant losses.

 

The auction process for this offering may result in a phenomenon known as the “winner’s curse.” At the conclusion of the auction process, successful bidders that receive allocations of warrants in this offering may infer that there is little incremental demand for the warrants above or equal to the public offering price. As a result, successful bidders may conclude that they paid too much for the warrants and could seek to immediately sell their warrants to limit their losses should the price of the warrants decline in trading after the auction process is completed. In this situation, other investors that did not submit successful bids may wait for this selling to be completed, resulting in reduced demand for the warrants in the public market and a significant decline in the price of the warrants. Therefore, we caution investors that submitting successful bids and receiving allocations may be followed by a significant decline in the value of their investment in the warrants shortly after this offering.

 

The auction process for this offering may result in a situation in which less price sensitive investors play a larger role in the determination of the public offering price and constitute a larger portion of the investors in this offering, and, as a result, the public offering price may not be sustainable once trading of warrants begins.

 

In a typical public offering of securities, a majority of the securities sold to the public are purchased by professional investors that have significant experience in determining valuations for companies in connection with such offerings. These professional investors typically have access to, or conduct their own, independent research and analysis regarding investments in such offerings. Other investors typically have less access to this level of research and analysis and, as a result, may be less sensitive to price. Because of the auction process used in this auction, these less price-sensitive investors may have a greater influence in setting the public offering price (because a larger number of higher bids may cause the clearing price in the auction process to be higher than it would otherwise have been absent such bids) and may have a higher level of participation in this offering than is normal for other public offerings. This, in turn, could cause the auction to result in a public offering price that is higher than the price professional investors are willing to pay for the warrants. As a result, the price of the warrants may decrease once trading of the warrants begins. Also, because professional investors may have a substantial degree of influence on the trading price of the warrants over time, the price of the warrants may decline and not recover after this offering. In addition, if the public offering price of the warrants is above the level that investors determine is reasonable for the warrants, some investors may attempt to short sell the warrants after trading begins, which would create additional downward pressure on the trading price of the warrants.

 

We are permitted, but are not required, to participate in the auction for the warrants and, if we do, it could have the effect of raising the clearing price and decreasing liquidity in the market for the warrants.

 

We are permitted, but are not required, to submit bids in the auction. You will not be notified by the auction agent, the network brokers or the selling security holder whether we have bid in the auction or, if we elect to participate in the auction, the terms of any bid or bids we may place. We will not receive preferential treatment of any kind and will participate on the same basis as all other bidders, except that we will be required to submit any final bid we may enter by 6:00 p.m., New York City time, on the day on which the auction is conducted (i.e., our final bids will be due 30 minutes before those of other bidders). In some cases, the submission

of bids by us, if any, could cause the clearing price in the auction to be higher than it would otherwise have been (although in such a case we would still be required to purchase any warrants for which we had submitted bids at the clearing price). In addition, to the extent we purchase any warrants, the liquidity of any market for the warrants may decrease, particularly if these purchases represent a significant percentage of the outstanding warrants.

 

If this offering proceeds and is completed, we may from time to time repurchase and retire the warrants in open market purchases or on a privately negotiated basis. Any repurchases would also decrease liquidity in any market for the warrants.

 

The clearing price for the warrants may bear little or no relationship to the price that would be established using traditional valuation methods or the market price of our common stock and, therefore, the trading price of the warrants may decline significantly following the issuance of the warrants.

 

The public offering price of the warrants will be equal to the clearing price. The clearing price of the warrants may have little or no relationship to, and may be significantly higher than, the price that otherwise would be established using traditional indicators of value, such as our future prospects and those of our industry in general; our revenues, earnings, and other financial and operating information; multiples of revenue, earnings, cash flows, and other operating metrics; market prices of securities and other financial and operating information of companies engaged in activities similar to ours; and the views of research analysts. The trading price of the warrants may vary significantly from the public offering price. Potential investors should not submit a bid in the auction for this offering unless they are willing to take the risk that the price of the warrants could decline significantly.

 

No maximum price or set price range has been established in connection with the auction, and any bids submitted as “market bids” will be included at the highest bid received from any bidder.

 

Although the auction agent has established a minimum bid in connection with the auction, no maximum price or set price range has been implemented, meaning that there is no ceiling on the per-warrant amount that an investor can bid in the auction. If a bidder submits a market bid, which is a bid that specifies the number of warrants the bidder is willing to purchase without specifying the price it is willing to pay, that bid will be treated as a bid at the highest price received from any other bidder in the auction. Because market bids will increase the number of warrants that are covered by bids at the highest price received, the submission of market bids could cause the clearing price in the auction to be higher than it would otherwise have been absent any market bids. Since the only information being provided in connection with the auction is the minimum bid price and the auction agent is under no obligation to reconfirm bids for any reason, potential investors should carefully evaluate all factors that may be relevant about us, our operations, the warrants and the auction process in determining the appropriateness of any bids they may submit.

 

Successful bidders may receive the full number of warrants subject to their bids, so potential investors should not make bids for more warrants than they are prepared to purchase.

 

Each bidder may submit multiple bids. However, as bids are independent, each bid may result in an allocation of warrants. Allocation of the warrants will be determined by, first, allocating warrants to any bids made above the clearing price, and second, allocating warrants on a pro-rata basis among bids made at the clearing price. If bids for all the warrants offered in this offering are received, and the selling security holder elects to sell warrants in the offering, the bids of successful bidders that are above the clearing price will be allocated all of the warrants represented by such bids, and only bids submitted at the clearing price will

experience any pro-rata allocation. Bids that have not been modified or withdrawn by the time of the submission deadline are final and irrevocable, and bidders who submit successful bids will be obligated to purchase the warrants allocated to them. Accordingly, the sum of a bidder’s bid sizes as of the submission deadline should be no more than the total number of warrants the bidder is willing to purchase, and we caution investors against submitting bids that do not accurately represent the number of warrants that they are willing and prepared to purchase.

 

Submitting a bid does not guarantee an allocation of warrants, even if a bidder submits a bid at or above the public offering price of the warrants.

 

The auction agent may require, at its discretion, that bidders confirm their bids before the auction closes, although the auction agent is under no obligation to reconfirm bids for any reason. If a bidder is requested to confirm a bid and fails to do so within the permitted time period, that bid may be deemed to have been withdrawn and, accordingly, that bidder may not receive an allocation of warrants even if the bid is at or above the public offering price. The auction agent may, however, choose to accept any such bid even if it has not been reconfirmed. In addition, the auction agent may determine in some cases to impose size limits on the aggregate size of bids that it chooses to accept from any bidder (including any network broker), and may reject any bid that it determines, in its discretion, has a potentially manipulative, disruptive or other adverse effect on the auction process or the offering. Furthermore, if bids for all the warrants offered in this offering are received, and the selling security holder elects to sell warrants in this offering, each bid submitted at the clearing price will be allocated a number of warrants approximately equal to the pro-rata allocation percentage multiplied by the number of warrants represented by such bid, rounded to the nearest whole number of warrants (subject to rounding to eliminate odd-lots). Similarly, if bids for half or more, but less than all, of the warrants offered in this offering are received, and the selling security holder chooses to sell fewer warrants than the number of warrants for which bids were received, then all bids will experience equal pro-rata allocation. The selling security holder could also decide, in its sole discretion, not to sell any warrants in this offering after the clearing price has been determined. As a result of these factors, you may not receive an allocation for all or any of the warrants for which you submit a bid.

 

We cannot assure you that the auction will be successful or that the full number of offered warrants will be sold.

 

If sufficient bids are received and accepted by the auction agent to enable the selling security holder to sell all of the warrants in this offering, the public offering price will be set at the clearing price, unless the selling security holder decides, in its sole discretion, not to sell any warrants in this offering after the clearing price is determined. If, however, bids are received for half or more, but less than all, of the offered warrants, then the selling security holder may, but is not required to, sell at the minimum bid price in the auction (which will be deemed the clearing price) as many warrants as it chooses to sell up to the number of warrants for which bids were received in the auction, so long as at least half of the offered warrants are sold and the warrants remain eligible for listing. If bids are received for less than half of the offered warrants, then the selling security holder will not sell any warrants in this offering. Even if bids are received for all of the offered warrants, the selling security holder is not obligated to sell any warrants regardless of the clearing price set through the auction process. The liquidity of the warrants may be limited if less than all of the offered warrants are sold by the selling security holder, or if we decide to bid and are a winning bidder in the auction and become a significant holder of the warrants following allocation. Possible future sales of the selling security holder’s remaining warrants, if any are held following this offering, could affect the trading price of the warrants sold in this offering.

Submitting bids through a network broker or any other broker that is not the auction agent may, in some circumstances, shorten the deadlines for potential investors to submit, modify or withdraw their bids.

 

In order to participate in the auction, bidders must have an account with, and submit bids to purchase warrants through, either the auction agent or a network broker. Brokers that are not network brokers will need to submit their bids, either for their own account or on behalf of their customers, through the auction agent or a network broker. Potential investors and brokers that wish to submit bids in the auction and do not have an account with the auction agent or a network broker must either establish such an account prior to bidding in the auction or cause a broker that has such an account to submit a bid through that account. Network brokers and other brokers will impose earlier submission deadlines than that imposed by the auction agent in order to have sufficient time to aggregate bids received from their respective customers and to transmit the aggregate bid to the auction agent (or, in the case of non-network brokers submitting bids through a network broker, to such network broker to transmit to the auction agent) before the auction closes. As a result of such earlier submission deadlines, potential investors who submit bids through a network broker, or brokers that submit bids through the auction agent or a network broker, will need to submit or withdraw their bids earlier than other bidders, and it may in some circumstances be more difficult for such bids to be submitted, modified or withdrawn.

 

Risks Related to the Warrants

 

The warrants are a risky investment. You may not be able to recover the value of your investment in the warrants, and the warrants may be worthless when they expire.

 

As of February 4, 2011, the last reported price of our common stock on NASDAQ was $33.30 per share. This is greater than the exercise price of the warrants. In order for you to recover the value of your investment in the warrants, either a trading market must develop for the warrants and the trading price of the warrants must exceed the public offering price, or our stock price must be more than the sum of the exercise price of the warrants ($22.82) and the clearing price of the warrants, or $     . If, for example, the clearing price of the warrants were the minimum bid price set by the auction agent, our stock price would have to be more than $36.32 for you to have an opportunity to exercise the warrants and achieve a positive return on your investment.

 

The warrants are exercisable only until December 19, 2018. Generally, the amount of time until expiration is a component of the value of option securities such as the warrants and, as the amount of time until the expiration of the warrants decreases, the market price of the warrants will, holding other variables constant, likely decline. In the event our common stock price does not increase to the level discussed above during the period when the warrants are exercisable, you will likely not be able to recover the value of your investment in the warrants. In addition, if our common stock price falls below the exercise price of the warrants, the warrants may not have any value and may expire without being exercised, in which case you will lose your entire investment. There can be no assurance that the trading price of our common stock will exceed the exercise price or the price required for you to achieve a positive return on your investment. Furthermore, upon exercise of the warrants, you will receive a number of shares of stock calculated based on the closing price of our common stock on that day. Accordingly, the number of shares and the value of the common stock you receive upon exercise of the warrants will depend on the market price of our common stock on the day on which you choose to exercise those warrants.

There is no existing market for the warrants, and you cannot be certain that an active market will be established.

 

Prior to this offering, there has been no existing trading market for the warrants. The public offering price for the warrants will be determined by an auction process, and may not be indicative of the price that will prevail in the trading market following this offering. The market price for the warrants may decline below the public offering price, and may be volatile. The liquidity of any market for the warrants will depend on a number of factors, including but not limited to:

 

 

In addition, many of the risks that are described elsewhere in this “Risk Factors” section and in the Risk Factors sections of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended June 30, 2010 and September 30, 2010 could materially and adversely affect the price of the warrants.

 

The warrants are not suitable for all investors.

 

The warrants are complex financial instruments for which there is no established trading market. Accordingly, the auction agent, each network broker and any other broker that submits bids through the auction agent or any network broker will be required to establish and enforce client suitability standards, including eligibility, account status and size, to evaluate whether an investment in the warrants is appropriate for any particular investor. Each of them will individually apply its own standards in making that determination, but in each case those standards will be implemented in accordance with the applicable requirements and guidelines of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. , referred to as “FINRA.” If you do not meet the relevant suitability requirements of the auction agent or another broker, you will not be able to bid in the auction. You should be prepared to sustain a total loss of the purchase price of your warrants.

 

Purchasers of warrants who exercise their warrants for shares of common stock will incur immediate and future dilution.

 

Upon exercise of your warrants for shares of our common stock, you could experience immediate and substantial dilution if the exercise price of your warrants at the time is higher than the net tangible book value per share of the outstanding common stock. In addition, you will experience dilution, subject to the anti-dilution protections contained in the warrants and described in this prospectus supplement, when we issue additional shares of common stock that we are permitted or required to issue in any future offerings or under outstanding options and warrants and under our stock incentive plans or other employee or director compensation plans.

The market price of the warrants will be directly affected by the market price of our common stock, which may be volatile.

 

To the extent a secondary market develops for the warrants, the market price of our common stock will significantly affect the market price of the warrants. This may result in greater volatility in the market price of the warrants than would be expected for warrants to purchase securities other than common stock. The market price of our common stock could be subject to significant fluctuations due to factors described below under “Risks Related to Our Common Stock—Our share price may fluctuate” and “—We may issue additional equity securities in connection with other transactions we may pursue, which will result in dilution to the holders of our common stock and may adversely affect the market price of our common stock,” and we cannot predict how shares of our common stock will trade in the future. Increased volatility could result in a decline in the market price of our common stock, and, in turn, in the market price of the warrants. The price of our common stock could also be affected by possible sales of common stock by investors who view the warrants as a more attractive means of equity participation in us and by hedging or arbitrage activity involving our common stock. The hedging or arbitrage of our common stock could, in turn, affect the market price of the warrants.

 

Holders of the warrants will have no rights as common shareholders until they acquire our common stock.

 

Until you acquire shares of our common stock upon exercise of the warrants, you will have no rights with respect to our common stock, including rights to be paid dividends, vote or respond to tender offers. Upon exercise of your warrants, you will be entitled to exercise the rights of a common shareholder only as to matters for which the record date occurs after the exercise date.

 

The exercise price of, and the number of shares underlying, the warrants may not be adjusted for all dilutive events.

 

The exercise price of and the number of shares underlying the warrants are subject to adjustment for certain events, including, but not limited to, certain issuances of stock dividends on our common stock, the issuance of certain rights or warrants, subdivisions, combinations, distributions of capital stock, indebtedness or assets, certain cash dividends and certain issuer tender or exchange offers as described under “Description of the Warrants—Adjustments to the Warrants.” The exercise price will not be adjusted, however, for other events, such as a third-party tender or exchange offer, a merger or reorganization in which our common stock is acquired for cash or an issuance of common stock for cash, that may adversely affect the trading price of the warrants or our common stock. Other events that adversely affect the value of the warrants may occur, and such events may not result in an adjustment to such exercise price.

 

Additionally, the exercise price of, and the number of shares underlying, the warrants will not be adjusted for any regular semi-annual cash dividends that are in the aggregate less than or equal to $0.18 per share of common stock, which is the amount of the last dividend per share declared prior to the date on which the warrants were originally issued to Treasury on December 19, 2008, or to the extent at any time the Company pays a regular cash dividend on a quarterly rather than semi-annual basis, to the extent the aggregate per share dividends paid on the outstanding common stock in any quarter are less than or equal to $0.09. The current semi-annual cash dividend paid on our common stock is $0.09 per share. Holders of our common stock are only entitled to receive such dividends as our board of directors may declare, and our board of directors, in its sole discretion, may decide to increase the dividend on our common stock at any time.

Recent governmental actions regarding short sales may adversely affect the market value of the warrants.

 

Governmental actions that interfere with the ability of warrant investors to effect short sales of our common stock could significantly affect the market value of the warrants. Such government actions could make the arbitrage strategy that certain warrant investors employ more difficult to execute for the outstanding warrants offered hereby. The SEC recently adopted a new short sale price test, which restricts short selling only when a stock price has triggered a circuit breaker by falling at least 10 percent in one day, at which point short sale orders can be displayed or executed only if the order price is above the current national best bid, subject to certain limited exceptions. If such new price test precludes warrant investors from executing the arbitrage strategy that they employ or other limitations are instituted by the SEC or any other regulatory agencies, the market value of the warrants could be adversely affected. The warrant agreement does not contain any provisions to afford holders protection in the event of a decline in the market value of the warrants due to such new price test or other limitations, and warrantholders will not be entitled to any exercise price reduction or increase to the number of underlying shares except under the limited circumstances described in “Description of the Warrants” in this prospectus supplement.

 

The warrants do not automatically exercise, and any warrant not exercised on or prior to the expiration date will expire unexercised.

 

The warrants do not automatically exercise upon expiration. You are entitled to exercise the full number of warrants registered in your name or any portion thereof. Any warrant that you do not exercise prior to the expiration date will expire unexercised and you will not receive any shares of our common stock.

 

Your return on the warrants will not reflect dividends on our common stock.

 

Your return on the warrants will not reflect the return you would realize if you actually owned shares of our common stock and received any dividends paid on our common stock other than to the extent described below under “Description of the Warrants—Adjustments to the Warrants.”

 

The warrant agreement is not an indenture qualified under the Trust Indenture Act, and the obligations of the warrant agent are limited.

 

The warrant agreement is not an indenture qualified under the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, as amended, referred to as the “TIA,” and the warrant agent is not a trustee qualified under the TIA. Accordingly, warrantholders will not have the benefits of the protections of the TIA. Under the terms of the warrant agreement, the warrant agent will have only limited obligations to the warrantholders. Accordingly, it may in some circumstances be difficult for warrantholders, acting individually or collectively, to take actions to enforce their rights under the warrants or the warrant agreement.

 

The selling security holder is a federal agency and your ability to bring a claim against the selling security holder under the federal securities laws may be limited.

 

The doctrine of sovereign immunity, as limited by the Federal Tort Claims Act, referred to as the “FTCA,” provides that claims may not be brought against the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof unless specifically permitted by act of Congress. The FTCA bars claims for fraud or misrepresentation. At least one federal court, in a case involving a federal agency, has held that the United States may assert its sovereign immunity to claims brought under the federal securities laws. In addition, the selling security holder and its officers, agents, and employees are exempt from liability for any violation or alleged violation

of the anti-fraud provisions of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act by virtue of Section 3(c) thereof. Accordingly, any attempt to assert such a claim against the officers, agents or employees of the selling security holder for a violation of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, referred to as the “Securities Act,” or the Exchange Act resulting from an alleged material misstatement in or material omission from this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus or the registration statement of which this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus are a part or resulting from any other act or omission in connection with the offering of the warrants by the selling security holder or the shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise thereof would likely be barred.

 

Holders of the warrants will not receive any additional shares of our common stock or other compensation representing any lost value resulting from a decrease in the duration of the exercise period for the warrants in the event we undergo a business combination.

 

In the event we undergo a merger, consolidation, statutory share exchange or similar transaction requiring the approval of our shareholders, each referred to as a “business combination,” each warrantholder’s right to receive our common stock under the terms of the warrants will be converted into the right to receive a number of shares of stock or other securities or property (including cash) which would have been received if such warrantholder had exercised the warrants immediately prior to such business combination. Any such business combination could substantially affect the value of the warrants by changing the securities received upon exercise of the warrants or fixing the market value of the property to be received upon exercise of the warrants. Warrantholders will not receive any additional shares of our common stock or other compensation representing any lost value resulting from any decrease in the duration of the exercise period for, or change in the securities or property (including cash) underlying, the warrants resulting from any such business combination.

 

Hedging arrangements relating to the warrants may affect the value of our common stock.

 

In order to hedge their positions, holders of our warrants may enter into derivative transactions with respect to our common stock, may unwind or adjust derivative transactions and may purchase or sell our common stock in secondary market transactions. The effect, if any, of any of these activities on the market price of our common stock will depend in part on market conditions and cannot be ascertained in advance, but any of these activities could adversely affect the value of our common stock.

 

You may be subject to tax upon an adjustment to the number of shares of our common stock underlying the warrants or the exercise price of the warrants even though you do not receive a corresponding cash distribution.

 

The number of shares of our common stock underlying the warrants and the exercise price of the warrants are subject to adjustment in certain circumstances. To the extent any such adjustment or failure to adjust results in an increase in your proportionate interest in our assets or our earnings and profits, you will (subject to certain exceptions) be deemed to have received for U.S. federal income tax purposes a taxable dividend to the extent deemed paid out of our earnings and profits without the receipt of any cash. If you are a Non-U.S. Holder, such deemed dividend generally will be subject to U.S. federal withholding tax (currently at a 30% rate, or such lower rate as may be specified by an applicable treaty), which may be set off

against shares of our common stock to be delivered upon exercise of warrants. See “Certain Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations” in this prospectus supplement.

 

Risks Related to Our Common Stock

 

Our share price may fluctuate.

 

The market price of our common stock could be subject to significant fluctuations due to a change in sentiment in the market regarding our operations or business prospects, future sales or acquisitions to which we are a party, this offering, or future sales of our securities. Such risks may be affected by:

 

 

Stock markets, in general, have experienced, and continue to experience, significant price and volume volatility, and the market price of our common stock may continue to be subject to similar market fluctuations that may be unrelated to our operating performance or prospects. Increased volatility could result in a decline in the market price of our common stock.

 

We may issue additional equity securities in connection with other transactions we may pursue, which will result in dilution to the holders of our common stock and may adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

 

Following the expiration of the lock-up period described below under “Underwriting,” we will not be restricted from issuing additional shares of our common stock, including securities that are convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for, common stock. We may also issue preferred stock in the future that has a preference over the common stock with respect to the payment of dividends or upon liquidation, dissolution or winding up, or voting rights that dilute the voting power of the common stock. If the warrants are exercised, the percentage ownership of holders of our common stock would be diluted. We may also issue additional common stock to participate in FDIC-assisted transactions or other acquisitions or to meet other regulatory requirements. We cannot predict the effect that these transactions would have on the market price of the warrants or our common stock.

 

You may not receive dividends on the common stock.

 

Although we have historically declared cash dividends on our common stock, we are not required to do so and may reduce or cease to pay common stock dividends in the future.

Our ability to pay common stock dividends is subject to the quarterly preferred dividend rights of our Series A Preferred Stock. The payment of dividends is also subject to statutory restrictions and restrictions arising under the terms of the Company’s Trust Preferred Securities offerings as well as to compliance with certain financial covenants under the Company’s revolving line of credit. If we reduce or cease to pay common stock dividends, the market price of our common stock could be adversely affected. See “Bank Regulation; Bank Holding Company and Subsidiary Regulations—Dividend Limitations” and “Bank Regulation; Additional Regulation of Dividends” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 for a discussion of regulatory and other restrictions on dividend declarations.

 

We are a holding company, and as a result we are largely dependent on dividends from our subsidiaries, including our banks, to provide funds for payment of dividends to our shareholders.

 

We are a non-operating holding company, whose principal assets and source of income are our investments in our subsidiaries, including our banks. We rely primarily on dividends from these subsidiaries to provide funds for payment of dividends to our shareholders, to the extent declared by our board of directors. There are various legal limitations on the extent to which our banks and our other subsidiaries can finance or otherwise supply funds to us (by dividend or otherwise) and certain of our affiliates. Although we maintain cash positions for liquidity at the holding company level, if our banks or other of our subsidiaries were unable to supply us with cash over time, we could be unable to pay dividends to our shareholders. See “Bank Regulation; Bank Holding Company and Subsidiary Regulations—Dividend Limitations” and “Bank Regulation; Additional Regulation of Dividends” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 for a discussion of regulatory and other restrictions on dividend declarations.

 

Our common stock is equity and is subordinate to our existing and future indebtedness and preferred stock.

 

Shares of common stock are equity interests in us and do not constitute indebtedness. As such, shares of common stock will rank junior to all of our indebtedness and to other non-equity claims against us and our assets available to satisfy claims against us, including in our liquidation. Additionally, holders of our common stock are subject to the prior dividend and liquidation rights of holders of our outstanding preferred stock. The issued and outstanding shares of our Series A Preferred Stock have an aggregate liquidation preference of $50 million. We may also issue preferred stock in the future that has a preference over the common stock with respect to the payment of dividends or upon liquidation, dissolution or winding up, or voting rights that dilute the voting power of the common stock. Our board of directors is authorized to issue additional classes or series of preferred stock without any action on the part of the holders of our common stock and we are permitted to incur additional debt. Upon liquidation, lenders and holders of our debt securities and preferred stock would receive distributions of our available assets prior to holders of our common stock.

 

Anti-takeover provisions could negatively impact our shareholders.

 

Certain provisions of our articles of incorporation, by-laws and Illinois law may have the effect of impeding the acquisition of control of Wintrust by means of a tender offer, a proxy fight, open-market purchases or otherwise in a transaction not approved by our board of directors. For example, our board of directors may issue additional authorized shares of our capital stock to deter future attempts to gain control of Wintrust, including the authority to determine the terms of any one or more series of preferred stock, such as voting rights, conversion rates and liquidation preferences. As a result of the ability to fix voting rights for a series of preferred stock, the board has the power, to the extent consistent with its fiduciary

duty, to issue a series of preferred stock to persons friendly to management in order to attempt to block a merger or other transaction by which a third party seeks control, and thereby assist the incumbent board of directors and management to retain their respective positions. In addition, our articles of incorporation expressly elect to be governed by the provisions of Section 7.85 of the Illinois Business Corporation Act, which would make it more difficult for another party to acquire us without the approval of our board of directors. The ability of a third party to acquire us is also limited under applicable banking regulations.

 

The Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 requires any “bank holding company” (as defined in that Act) to obtain the approval of the Federal Reserve prior to acquiring more than 5% of our outstanding common stock. Any person other than a bank holding company is required to obtain prior approval of the Federal Reserve to acquire 10% or more of our outstanding common stock under the Change in Bank Control Act of 1978. Any holder of 25% or more of our outstanding common stock, other than an individual, is subject to regulation as a bank holding company under the Bank Holding Company Act. For purposes of calculating ownership thresholds under these banking regulations, bank regulators would likely at least take the position that the minimum number of shares, and could take the position that the maximum number of shares, of Wintrust common stock that a holder is entitled to receive pursuant to securities convertible into or settled in Wintrust common stock must be taken into account in calculating a shareholder’s aggregate holdings of Wintrust common stock.

 

These provisions may have the effect of discouraging a future takeover attempt that is not approved by our board of directors but which our individual shareholders may deem to be in their best interests or in which our shareholders may receive a substantial premium for their shares over then-current market prices. As a result, shareholders who might desire to participate in such a transaction may not have an opportunity to do so. Such provisions will also render the removal of our current board of directors or management more difficult.

 

Risk Factors Relating to Our Business

 

Our participation in FDIC-assisted acquisitions may present additional risks to our financial condition and results of operations.

 

As part of our growth strategy, we have pursued opportunistic whole and partial acquisitions of troubled financial institutions in transactions facilitated by the FDIC, including our recent acquisitions of Lincoln Park Bank, Wheatland Bank and Ravenswood Bank through our bank subsidiaries. These acquisitions, and any future FDIC-assisted transactions we may undertake, involve greater risk than traditional acquisitions because they are typically conducted on an accelerated basis, allowing less time for us to prepare for and evaluate possible transactions, or to prepare for integration of an acquired institution. These transactions also present risks of customer loss, strain on management resources related to collection and management of problem loans and problems related to the integration of operations and personnel of the acquired financial institutions. As a result, there can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully integrate the financial institutions we acquire, or that we will realize the anticipated benefits of the acquisitions.

 

We are also subject to certain risks relating to our loss sharing agreements with the FDIC. Under a loss sharing agreement, the FDIC generally agrees to reimburse the acquiring bank for a portion of any losses relating to covered assets of the acquired financial institution. This is an important financial term of any FDIC-assisted transaction, as troubled financial institutions often have poorer asset quality. As a condition to reimbursement, however, the FDIC requires the acquiring bank to follow certain servicing procedures. A failure to follow servicing procedures or any other breach of a loss sharing agreement by us could result in the loss of FDIC reimbursement. While we have established a group dedicated to servicing the loans

covered by the FDIC loss sharing agreements, there can be no assurance that we will be able to comply with the FDIC servicing procedures. In addition, reimbursable losses and recoveries under loss sharing agreements are based on the book value of the relevant loans and other assets as determined by the FDIC as of the effective dates of the acquisitions. The amount that the acquiring banks realize on these assets could differ materially from the carrying value that will be reflected in our financial statements, based upon the timing and amount of collections on the covered loans in future periods. Any failure to receive reimbursement, or any material differences between the amount of reimbursements that we do receive and the carrying value reflected in our financial statements, could have a material negative effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

 

The following describes the auction process used to determine the public offering price of the warrants. This process differs from methods traditionally used in other public underwritten offerings. The selling security holder and the underwriter will determine the public offering price and the allocation of the warrants in this offering by an auction process conducted by the sole book-running manager, Deutsche Bank Securities, in its capacity as the “auction agent.” The auction process will involve a modified “Dutch auction” mechanic in which the auction agent (working with a number of other brokers) will receive and accept bids from bidders at either the minimum bid price of $13.50 or at price increments of $0.10 in excess of the minimum bid price. We may, but are not required to, bid in the auction for some or all of the warrants. After the auction closes and those bids become irrevocable, which will occur automatically at the submission deadline to the extent such bids have not been modified or withdrawn at that time, the auction agent will determine the clearing price for the sale of the warrants offered hereby and, if the selling security holder chooses to proceed with the offering, the underwriter will allocate warrants to the winning bidders. The auction agent has reserved the right to round allocations to eliminate odd-lots. The clearing price for the warrants may bear little or no relationship to the price that would be established using traditional valuation methods. You should carefully consider the risks described under “Risk Factors—Risks Related to the Auction Process” beginning on page S-12.

 

Eligibility and Account Status

 

In order to participate in the auction process, bidders must have an account with, and submit bids to purchase warrants through, either the auction agent or one of the network brokers. Brokers that are not network brokers will need to submit their bids, either for their own account or on behalf of their customers, through the auction agent or a network broker. If you wish to bid in the auction and do not have an account with the auction agent or a network broker, you will either need to establish such an account prior to bidding in the auction, which may be difficult to do before the submission deadline, or contact your existing broker and request that it submit a bid through the auction agent or a network broker. Network brokers and other brokers will have deadlines relating to the auction process that are earlier than those imposed by the auction agent, as described below under “—The Auction Process—The Bidding Process.”

 

Because the warrants are complex financial instruments for which there is no established trading market, the auction agent, each network broker and any other broker that submits bids through the auction agent or any network broker will be required to establish and enforce client suitability standards, including eligibility, account status and size, to evaluate whether an investment in the warrants is appropriate for any particular investor. Each of them will individually apply its own standards in making that determination, but in each case those standards will be implemented in accordance with the applicable requirements and guidelines of FINRA. If you do not meet the relevant suitability requirements of the auction agent or another broker, you will not be able to bid in the auction. Accounts at the auction agent or any other broker, including broker accounts, are also subject to the customary rules of those institutions. You should contact your brokerage firm to better understand how you may submit bids in the auction process.

 

The auction agent or network brokers may require bidders, including any brokers that may be bidding on behalf of their customers, to submit additional information, such as tax identification numbers, a valid e-mail address and other contact information, and other information that may be required to establish or maintain an account.

 

The auction agent and the network brokers, upon request, will provide certain information to you in connection with the offering, including this prospectus supplement and the

accompanying prospectus and forms used by the auction agent or network brokers, if any, to submit bids. Additionally, you should understand that:

 

 

None of the underwriter, the selling security holder or we have undertaken any efforts to qualify the warrants for sale in any jurisdiction outside the United States. Except to the limited

extent that this offering will be open to certain non-U.S. investors under private placement exemptions in certain countries other than the United States, investors located outside the United States should not expect to be eligible to participate in this offering.

 

Even if a bidder places a bid in the auction, it may not receive an allocation of the warrants in this offering for a number of reasons described below. You should consider all the information in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus in determining whether to submit a bid, the number of warrants you seek to purchase and the price per warrant you are willing to pay.

 

The following brokers have agreed to be network brokers for purposes of the auction: Aladdin Capital LLC, BB&T Capital Markets, a Division of Scott & Stringfellow, LLC, Blaylock Robert Van, LLC, BMO Capital Markets Corp., Cabrera Capital Markets, LLC, Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., CastleOak Securities. L.P., C.L. King & Associates, Inc, D.A. Davidson & Co., FBR Capital Markets & Co., Girard Securities, Inc., Guzman & Company, Jefferies & Company, Inc., Joseph Gunnar & Co. LLC, Lebenthal & Co., LLC., Loop Capital Markets LLC, Height Securities, LLC, M.R. Beal & Company, Maxim Group, LLC, MFR Securities, Inc., Monarch Capital Group LLC, Muriel Siebert & Co., Inc., RBC Capital Markets Corporation, Samuel A. Ramirez & Company, Inc., Sandler O’Neill & Partners, L.P., Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., LLC, Second Market, Inc., SL Hare Capital, Inc., Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated, The Williams Capital Group, L.P., Toussaint Capital Partners, LLC, UBS Securities LLC, Wedbush Morgan Securities Inc , WR Hambrecht + Co., LLC and Zions Direct, Inc. The network brokers will not share in any underwriting discounts or fees paid by the selling security holder in connection with this offering of the warrants but may, subject to applicable FINRA and SEC rules and regulations, charge a separate commission to their own customers.

 

The Auction Process

 

The following describes how the auction agent will conduct the auction process:

 

General

 

 

The Bidding Process

 

 

 

 

 

Pricing and Allocation

 

 

 

 

 

 

You should carefully review the procedures of, and communications from, the institution through which you bid to purchase warrants.

 

Auction Developments

 

You should keep in contact with the institution through which your bid has been submitted and monitor your relevant e-mail accounts, telephone and facsimile for notifications related to this offering, which may include:

 

 

The warrants offered by this prospectus supplement are being sold for the account of the selling security holder named in this prospectus supplement. Any proceeds from the sale of these warrants will be received by the selling security holder for its own account, and we will not receive any proceeds from the sale of any of the warrants offered by this prospectus supplement.

 

The following is a brief description of the terms of the warrants being sold by the selling security holder. This summary does not purport to be complete in all respects. This description is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by reference to, the form of warrant and warrant agreement, copies of which will be filed with the SEC.

 

Common Stock Subject to the Warrants

 

Each warrant initially represents the right to purchase one share of our common stock. The number of shares deliverable upon the exercise of each warrant is subject to the adjustments described below under the heading “—Adjustments to the Warrants.”

 

Exercise of the Warrants

 

The initial exercise price applicable to each warrant is $22.82 per share of common stock for which the warrant may be exercised. The warrants may be exercised in whole or in part at any time or from time to time on or before 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on December 19, 2018 by delivery to the warrant agent of the warrant and a completed notice of exercise attached as an annex to the warrant and the payment of the exercise price per share for the shares of common stock for which the warrants are being exercised. The exercise price cannot be paid in cash. The exercise price will be paid by the withholding by us of a number of shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants with a market value equal to the aggregate exercise price of the warrants so exercised, determined by reference to the closing price of our common stock on the trading day on which the warrants are exercised and notice is delivered to the warrant agent. The exercise price applicable to the warrants is subject to adjustment as described below under the heading “—Adjustments to the Warrants.” So long as the warrants are in global form, any exercise notice will be delivered to the warrant agent through and in accordance with the procedures of the depository for the warrants.

 

Upon exercise of the warrants, the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise will be issued by our transfer agent for the account of the exercising warrantholder. Shares issued upon exercise of warrants will be issued in the name or names designated by the exercising warrantholder and will be delivered by the transfer agent to the exercising warrantholder (or its nominee or nominees) either via book-entry transfer crediting the account of such warrantholder, or the relevant participant of The Depository Trust Company, referred to as “DTC,” for the benefit of such warrantholder, through DTC’s DWAC system if our transfer agent participates in such system, or otherwise in certificated form by physical delivery to the address specified by such warrantholder in the exercise notice. We will not issue fractional shares of our common stock upon any exercise of the warrants. Instead, the exercising warrantholder will be entitled to a cash payment equal to the portion of the per share market price of our common stock on the date of exercise of the warrants representing any fractional share that would have otherwise been issuable upon exercise of the warrants. We will at all times reserve the aggregate number of shares of our common stock for which the warrants may be exercised.

 

Issuance of any shares of our common stock deliverable upon the exercise of warrants will be made without charge to the warrantholder for any issue or transfer tax or other incidental expense in respect of the issuance of those shares (other than liens or charges created by a warrantholder, income and franchise taxes incurred in connection with the exercise of the warrant or taxes in respect of any transfer occurring contemporaneously therewith).

 

We have applied to list the warrants on NASDAQ under the symbol “WTFCW.”

Rights as a Shareholder

 

The warrantholders will have no rights or privileges of holders of our common stock, including any voting rights and rights to dividend payments, until, and then only to the extent that, the warrants have been exercised.

 

Adjustments to the Warrants

 

Pursuant to the terms of the warrants, the number of shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of each warrant, referred to as the “warrant shares,” and the warrant exercise price will be adjusted upon occurrence of certain events as follows:

 

 

 

The “effective date” of a pro rata repurchase means (a) the date of acceptance of shares for purchase or exchange by us under any tender offer or exchange offer that is a pro rata repurchase or (b) the date of purchase of any pro rata repurchase that is not a tender offer or an exchange offer.

 

 

Neither the exercise price nor the number of warrant shares will be adjusted in the event of a change in the par value of our common stock or a change in our jurisdiction of incorporation.

 

The warrant agent will notify the warrantholders of any adjustments. If the warrant agent fails to give such notice, the exercise price and the number of warrant shares will nevertheless be adjusted.

 

If more than one adjustment provision applies to a single event, the adjustment provision that produces the largest adjustment with respect to such event will be applied, and no single event will cause an adjustment under more than one adjustment provision so as to result in duplication. All such adjustments will be made to the nearest one-tenth (1/10^th) of a cent or to the nearest one-hundredth (1/100^th) of a share, as the case may be. No adjustment in the exercise price or the number of shares issuable upon exercise of a warrant will be made if the amount of such adjustment would be less than $0.01 or one-tenth (1/10^th) of a share of our common stock, but any such amount will be carried forward and an adjustment with respect thereto will be made at the time of and together with any subsequent adjustment which, together with such amount and any other amount or amounts so carried forward, will aggregate $0.01 or one-tenth (1/10^th) of a share of our common stock, or more, or on exercise of a warrant if that occurs earlier.

 

For purposes of these adjustment provisions:

 

“ordinary cash dividends” means a regular semi-annual or quarterly cash dividend on shares of our common stock out of surplus or net profits legally available therefor (determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in effect from time to time), provided that ordinary cash dividends will not include any cash dividends paid subsequent to December 19, 2008 to the extent the aggregate per share dividends paid on our outstanding common stock in any semi-annual period exceed $0.18 (or to the extent at such time we pay a regular cash dividend on a quarterly rather than semi-annual basis, to the extent the aggregate per share dividends paid on our outstanding common stock in any quarter exceed $0.09), as adjusted for any stock split, stock dividend, reverse stock split, reclassification or similar transaction.

 

“market price” means, with respect to a particular security, on any given day, the last reported sale price regular way or, in case no such reported sale takes place on such day, the average of the last closing bid and ask prices regular way, in either case on the principal national securities exchange on which the applicable securities are listed or admitted to trading, or if not listed or admitted to trading on any national securities exchange, the average of the closing bid and ask prices as furnished by two FINRA members selected from time to time by us for that purpose, and will be determined without reference to after hours or extended hours trading. If such security is not listed and traded in a manner that the quotations referred to above are available for the period required under the warrants, the market price will be deemed to be the fair market value

per share of such security as determined in good faith by our board of directors in reliance on an opinion of a nationally recognized independent investment banking firm retained by us for this purpose. If any such security is listed or traded on a non-U.S. market, such fair market value will be determined by reference to the closing price of such security as of the end of the most recently ended business day in such market prior to the date of determination. If making any such determination requires the conversion of any currency other than U.S. dollars into U.S. dollars, such conversion will be done in accordance with customary procedures based on the rate for conversion of such currency into U.S. dollars displayed on the relevant page by Bloomberg L.P. (or any successor or replacement service) on or by 4:00 p.m., New York City time, on such exercise date. For the purposes of determining the market price of our common stock on the “trading day” preceding, on or following the occurrence of an event, (i) that trading day will be deemed to commence immediately after the regular scheduled closing time of trading on NASDAQ or, if trading is closed at an earlier time, such earlier time and (ii) that trading day will end at the next regular scheduled closing time, or if trading is closed at an earlier time, such earlier time (for the avoidance of doubt, and as an example, if the market price is to be determined as of the last trading day preceding a specified event and the closing time of trading on a particular day is 4:00 p.m. and the specified event occurs at 5:00 p.m. on that day, the market price would be determined by reference to such 4:00 p.m. closing price).

 

Amendment

 

The warrants may be amended and the observance of any material term of such warrants may be waived with the consent of a majority of the holders of such warrants; provided that the consent of each affected warrantholder is necessary for any amendment (i) to increase the exercise price or to decrease the number of shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants (other than pursuant to the terms of the adjustment provisions in the warrant certificate described above), (ii) that would shorten the time period during which the warrants are exercisable or (iii) that would change in a manner adverse to such warrantholders the terms of the adjustment provisions in the warrant certificate described above.

 

Description of the Warrant Agreement

 

Under the warrant agreement, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. is appointed to act as the warrant agent to act on our behalf in connection with the transfer, exchange, redemption, exercise and cancellation of the warrants and required to maintain a registry recording the names and addresses of all registered holders of warrants. The warrant agent will receive a fee in exchange for performing these duties under the warrant agreement and will be indemnified by us for liabilities not involving gross negligence, willful misconduct or bad faith and arising out of its service as warrant agent.

 

The warrants will initially be issued in the form of one or more global warrants as specified in the warrant agreement. Each global warrant will be deposited upon issuance with, or on behalf of, DTC, and will be registered in the name of DTC or a nominee of DTC, in each case for credit to the account of a direct or indirect participant in DTC. For a description of book-entry procedures and settlement mechanics generally applicable to securities held through DTC participants, see “Book-Entry Issuance” below. Owners of a beneficial interest in any global warrant are entitled to receive a warrant in definitive form not held by a depository or the warrant agent only if (i) DTC is unwilling or unable to continue as depository for the global warrant or ceases to be a “clearing agency” under the Exchange Act (and, in each case, no successor depository is appointed within 90 days), (ii) we, in our sole discretion, notify the warrant agent of our election to issue warrants in definitive form under the warrant agreement or (iii) we have been adjudged bankrupt, consented to the filing of bankruptcy proceedings, or filed a petition, answer or consent seeking to reorganize under federal or state law.

Governing Law

 

The warrants and the warrant agreement will be governed by New York law.

 

Book-Entry Issuance

 

The warrants may be issued as global warrants and deposited with a depositary. The following is a summary of the depositary arrangements applicable to warrants issued in permanent global form and for which DTC will act as depositary, referred to as the “global warrants.” The information in this section concerning DTC and DTC’s book-entry system has been obtained from sources that we believe to be reliable, but we take no responsibility for the accuracy thereof.

 

Each global warrant will be deposited with, or on behalf of, DTC, as depositary, or its nominee and registered in the name of a nominee of DTC. Except under the limited circumstances described below, global warrants will not be exchangeable for certificated warrants.

 

Only institutions that have accounts with DTC or its nominee, referred to as “DTC participants,” or persons that may hold interests through DTC participants may own beneficial interests in a global warrant. DTC will maintain records evidencing ownership of beneficial interests by DTC participants in the global warrants and transfers of those ownership interests. DTC participants will maintain records evidencing ownership of beneficial interests in the global warrants by persons that hold through those DTC participants and transfers of those ownership interests within those DTC participants. DTC has no knowledge of the actual beneficial owners of the warrants. You will not receive written confirmation from DTC of your purchase, but we do expect that you will receive written confirmations providing details of the transaction, as well as periodic statements of your holdings from the DTC participant through which you entered the transaction. The laws of some jurisdictions require that certain purchasers of securities take physical delivery of those securities in certificated form. Those laws may impair your ability to transfer beneficial interests in a global warrant.

 

DTC has advised us that upon the issuance of a global warrant and the deposit of that global warrant with DTC, DTC will immediately credit, on its book-entry registration and transfer system, the number of warrants represented by that global warrant to the accounts of DTC participants.

 

We will make any payments on warrants represented by a global warrant to DTC or its nominee, as the case may be, as the registered owner and holder of the global warrant representing those securities. DTC has advised us that upon receipt of any payment on a global warrant, DTC will immediately credit accounts of DTC participants with payments in amounts proportionate to their respective beneficial interests in that warrant, as shown in the records of DTC. Standing instructions and customary practices will govern payments by DTC participants to owners of beneficial interests in a global warrant held through those DTC participants, as is now the case with securities held for the accounts of customers in bearer form or registered in “street name.” Those payments will be the sole responsibility of those DTC participants, subject to any statutory or regulatory requirements in effect from time to time.

 

Neither we nor our agents will have any responsibility or liability for any aspect of the records of DTC, any nominee or any DTC participant relating to, or payments made on account of, beneficial interests in a global warrant or for maintaining, supervising or reviewing any of the records of DTC, any nominee or any DTC participant relating to those beneficial interests.

 

Any global warrant that is exchangeable for warrants in definitive form as described under “—Description of the Warrant Agreement,” above, will be exchangeable in whole for warrants in definitive form. The registrar will register the certificated warrants in the name or names instructed by DTC. We expect that those instructions may be based upon directions received

by DTC from DTC participants with respect to ownership of beneficial interests in the global warrant.

 

Except as provided above, as an owner of a beneficial interest in a global warrant, you will not be entitled to receive physical delivery of warrants in definitive form and will not be considered a holder of warrants for any purpose. No global warrant will be exchangeable except for another global warrant of like denomination and tenor to be registered in the name of DTC or its nominee. Accordingly, you must rely on the procedures of DTC and the DTC participant through which you own your interest to exercise any rights of a holder under the global warrant.

 

We understand that, under existing industry practices, in the event that we request any action of holders, or an owner of a beneficial interest in a global warrant desires to take any action that a holder is entitled to take under the terms of the warrants, DTC would authorize the DTC participants holding the relevant beneficial interests to take that action, and those DTC participants would authorize beneficial owners owning through those DTC participants to take that action or would otherwise act upon the instructions of beneficial owners owning through them.

 

DTC has advised us that DTC is a limited-purpose trust company organized under the New York Banking Law, a “banking organization” within the meaning of the New York Banking Law, a member of the Federal Reserve System, a “clearing corporation” within the meaning of the New York Uniform Commercial Code and a “clearing agency” registered under the Exchange Act.

 

Global Clearance and Settlement Procedures

 

Initial settlement for global securities will be made in immediately available funds. DTC participants will conduct secondary market trading with other DTC participants in the ordinary way in accordance with DTC rules. Thereafter, secondary market trades will settle in immediately available funds using DTC’s same day funds settlement system.

 

Although DTC has agreed to the procedures described above in order to facilitate transfers of interests in global warrants among DTC participants, they are under no obligation to perform those procedures and those procedures may be discontinued at any time.

 

On December 19, 2008, we issued to Treasury a warrant to purchase 1,643,295 shares of our common stock together with shares of our preferred stock pursuant to a securities purchase agreement between us and Treasury for such warrant and preferred stock, referred to as the “Securities Purchase Agreement,” Treasury acquired the warrant and shares of our preferred stock as part of the Troubled Assets Relief Program, referred to as “TARP.” TARP was established pursuant to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, referred to as “EESA,” which was enacted into law on October 3, 2008 in response to the financial crisis. EESA requires the Secretary of the Treasury to acquire warrants in connection with certain purchases from a financial institution, subject to certain exceptions. The warrants being offered were acquired when Treasury acquired our preferred stock on December 19, 2008. On December 22, 2010, we redeemed the preferred stock issued to Treasury as part of TARP. We are registering the warrants (and the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants) offered by this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus on behalf of Treasury as the selling security holder.

 

The following description of the selling security holder was provided by Treasury and derived from Treasury’s website. Treasury is the executive agency of the U.S. government responsible for promoting economic prosperity and ensuring the financial security of the United States. Treasury is responsible for a wide range of activities such as advising the President on economic and financial issues, encouraging sustainable economic growth, and fostering improved governance in financial institutions. Treasury operates and maintains systems that are critical to the nation’s financial infrastructure, such as the production of coin and currency, the disbursement of payments to the American public, revenue collection, and the borrowing of funds necessary to run the federal government. Treasury works with other federal agencies, foreign governments, and international financial institutions to encourage global economic growth, raise standards of living, and, to the extent possible, predict and prevent economic and financial crises. Treasury also performs a critical and far-reaching role in enhancing national security by implementing economic sanctions against foreign threats to the United States, identifying and targeting the financial support networks of national security threats, and improving the safeguards of our financial systems. In addition, under EESA, Treasury was given certain authority and facilities to restore the liquidity and stability of the financial system.

 

The table below sets forth information with respect to the beneficial ownership of the warrants held as of February 7, 2011 by the selling security holder, the number of warrants being offered hereby, and information with respect to warrants to be beneficially owned by the selling security holder assuming all the warrants offered hereby are sold.

 

 

The warrants currently are exercisable for 1,643,295 shares of our common stock, which represented approximately 4.7% of our common stock outstanding as of February 3, 2011 (however, because the warrants must be exercised on a cashless basis, we will withhold from an exercising warrantholder a number of shares with a value equal to the aggregate exercise price as payment for the exercise of the warrants). The actual number of shares that could be issued upon exercise of the warrants will depend upon the market price of our common stock at the time of exercise and other factors, including the adjustment provisions described above

under “Description of the Warrants—Adjustments to the Warrants,” and cannot be determined at this time. Other than the warrants, Treasury does not own any of our equity securities.

 

Our operations are regulated by various U.S. governmental authorities, including in certain respects by the selling security holder. Other than the Securities Purchase Agreement, we have no material contractual relationships with the selling security holder. Purchasers of the warrants will have no rights under the Securities Purchase Agreement.

 

Under the Securities Purchase Agreement, we have agreed to indemnify the selling security holder in connection with certain liabilities in connection with this offering, including any liabilities under the Securities Act. As an agency of the United States, Treasury is likely immune from suit on claims by purchasers of warrants in connection with this offering. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to the Warrants—The selling security holder is a federal agency and your ability to bring a claim against the selling security holder under the federal securities laws may be limited” above.

 

Governmental Immunity

 

The doctrine of sovereign immunity, as limited by the FTCA, provides that claims may not be brought against the United States of America or any agency or instrumentality thereof unless specifically permitted by act of Congress. The Federal Tort Claims Act bars claims for fraud or misrepresentation. The courts have held, in cases involving federal agencies and instrumentalities, that the United States may assert its sovereign immunity to claims brought under the federal securities laws. Thus, any attempt to assert a claim against Treasury alleging a violation of the federal securities laws, including the Securities Act and the Exchange Act, resulting from an alleged material misstatement in or material omission from this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus or the registration statement of which this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus are a part, or any other act or omission in connection with the offering to which this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus relate, likely would be barred. In addition, Treasury has advised us that Treasury and its members, officers, agents, and employees are exempt from liability for any violation or alleged violation of the anti-fraud provisions of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act by virtue of Section 3(c) thereof. Accordingly, any attempt to assert such a claim against the members, officers, agents or employees of Treasury for a violation of the Securities Act or the Exchange Act resulting from an alleged material misstatement in or material omission from this prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus or the registration statement of which this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus are a part or resulting from any other act or omission in connection with the offering of the warrants or the shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise thereof likely would be barred.

 

The following is a summary of certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations concerning the ownership, exercise and disposition of the warrants and ownership and disposition of the common stock received upon exercising the warrants. The following discussion is not exhaustive of all possible tax considerations. This discussion is based on the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), proposed, temporary, and final Treasury Regulations promulgated thereunder, and judicial and administrative interpretations of the Code and Treasury Regulations, in each case as in effect and available as of the date of this prospectus supplement. The Code, Treasury Regulations, and judicial and administrative interpretations thereof may change at any time (possibly with retroactive effect). The Code, Treasury Regulations, and judicial and administrative interpretations thereof are also subject to various interpretations, and there can be no guarantee that the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) or U.S. courts will agree with the tax consequences described in this summary.

 

This discussion does not address all aspects of U.S. federal income taxation that may be important to a particular beneficial owner of the warrants or our common stock (referred to herein as a “holder”) in light of that holder’s individual circumstances, nor does it address any aspects of U.S. federal estate and gift, state, local, or non-U.S. taxes. This discussion may not apply, in whole or in part, to particular holders in light of their individual circumstances or to holders subject to special treatment under the U.S. federal income tax laws (such as insurance companies, tax-exempt entities, financial institutions, traders, brokers or dealers in securities, “controlled foreign corporations,” “passive foreign investment companies,” real estate investment trusts, regulated investment companies or shareholders of such entities, pass-through entities for U.S. federal income tax purposes (e.g., partnerships or other entities or arrangements classified as partnerships for U.S. federal income tax purposes) or persons that hold the warrants or our common stock through such pass-through entities, holders that hold the warrants or our common stock as part of a wash sale, constructive sale, straddle, hedge, conversion transaction or other integrated investment, holders who actually or constructively own or have owned 5% or more of the total value of our common stock, holders subject to the alternative minimum tax, U.S. Holders (as defined below) whose functional currency is not the U.S. dollar, and certain U.S. expatriates). Holders who are in any of the above categories should consult their own tax advisors regarding the U.S. federal income tax consequences relating to the ownership, exercise and disposition of the warrants and ownership and disposition of the common stock received upon exercising the warrants.

 

If a partnership (or any other entity or arrangement treated as a partnership or other type of pass-through entity for U.S. federal income tax purposes) holds the warrants and/or our common stock, the tax treatment of a partner or beneficial owner of an interest in another pass-through entity will generally depend on the status of the partner or beneficial owner, the activities of the partnership or entity, and certain determinations made at the partner or beneficial owner level. Such a partner or beneficial owner should consult its own tax advisors as to the U.S. federal income tax consequences of being a partner or beneficial owner in a partnership or other pass-through entity.

 

This summary is directed solely to holders that hold the warrants or our common stock as capital assets within the meaning of Section 1221 of the Code, which generally means as property held for investment.

 

THIS SUMMARY IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY AND IS NOT INTENDED TO CONSTITUTE A COMPLETE ANALYSIS OF ALL U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS FOR HOLDERS RELATING TO THE OWNERSHIP AND DISPOSITION OF THE WARRANTS AND OUR COMMON STOCK. PROSPECTIVE HOLDERS OF THE WARRANTS AND OUR COMMON STOCK SHOULD CONSULT WITH THEIR TAX ADVISORS REGARDING THE TAX CONSEQUENCES TO THEM (INCLUDING THE APPLICATION AND EFFECT OF ANY STATE, LOCAL, NON-U.S. INCOME AND OTHER TAX LAWS) OF THE OWNERSHIP AND DISPOSITION OF OUR WARRANTS AND COMMON STOCK.

For purposes of this discussion, a “U.S. Holder” means a beneficial owner of a warrant and/or common stock that is, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, any of the following:

 

 

A “Non-U.S. Holder” is a beneficial owner of a warrant and/or common stock that is not a U.S. Holder and is not an entity or arrangement that is treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

 

Warrants

 

U.S. Holders

 

Sale of the Warrants.  In general, a U.S. Holder of a warrant will recognize gain or loss upon the sale of the warrant in an amount equal to the difference between the amount realized on the sale and the U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis in the warrant. The initial tax basis in the warrant will be the purchase price. Gain or loss attributable to the sale of the warrant will generally be capital gain or loss. Capital gain of a non-corporate U.S. Holder is generally taxed at preferential rates where the U.S. Holder has a holding period greater than one year.

 

Exercise of the Warrants.  The U.S. federal income tax consequences of the exercise of warrants that require net share settlement are not entirely clear. Exercise of the warrants may be treated as a non-recognition event (except with respect to any cash received in lieu of any fractional share), either because (i) the warrants are treated as options to receive a variable number of shares of our common stock with no exercise price or (ii) the exchange of warrants for stock pursuant to net share settlement is treated as a recapitalization. In either case, a U.S. Holder’s tax basis in the common stock received will equal the U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis in the warrants, less any amount attributable to any fractional share. If the warrants are treated as options, the holding period of common stock received upon the exercise of a warrant will commence on the day after the warrant is exercised. If the exchange of warrants for stock pursuant to net share settlement is treated as a recapitalization, the holding period of common stock received upon the exercise of a warrant will include the U.S. Holder’s holding period for the warrant.

 

It is also possible that exercise of the warrants could be treated as a taxable exchange in which gain or loss will be recognized. The amount of gain or loss recognized on such exchange and its character as short-term or long-term will depend on the characterization of that exchange. If a U.S. Holder is treated as selling a portion of the warrants or underlying shares of our common stock for cash that is used to pay the exercise price for the warrants, the amount of gain or loss will be the difference between that exercise price and such U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis attributable to the warrants or shares of our common stock deemed to have been sold. If the U.S. Holder is treated as selling warrants, such U.S. Holder will have long-term capital gain or loss if it has held the warrants for more than one year. If the U.S. Holder is treated as selling underlying shares of our common stock, such U.S. Holder will have short-term capital gain or loss. In either case, a U.S. Holder of a warrant will also

recognize gain or loss in respect of the cash received in lieu of any fractional share of our common stock otherwise issuable upon exercise in an amount equal to the difference between the amount of cash received and the portion of such U.S. Holder’s tax basis attributable to such fractional share. The ability of U.S. Holders to deduct capital losses is subject to limitations under the Code.

 

Alternatively, if the U.S. Holder is treated as exchanging, in a taxable exchange, the warrants for shares of our common stock received on exercise, the amount of gain or loss will be the difference between (1) the fair market value of our common stock and cash in lieu of any fractional share received on exercise and (2) the holder’s adjusted tax basis in the warrants. In that case, the U.S. Holder will have long-term capital gain or loss if it has held the warrants for more than one year and such U.S. Holder will have a tax basis in the shares of our common stock received equal to their fair market value.

 

Due to the absence of authority on the U.S. federal income tax treatment of the exercise of warrants that require net share settlement, there can be no assurance as to which, if any, of the alternative tax consequences and holding periods described above will be adopted by the IRS or a court. Accordingly, U.S. Holders should consult their tax advisors regarding the tax consequences of the exercise of the warrants.

 

Expiration of the Warrants.  Upon the expiration of the warrants, a U.S. Holder will recognize a loss equal to the adjusted tax basis of the warrants. Such loss will generally be a capital loss and will be a long-term capital loss if the warrants have been held for more than one year on the date of expiration. The ability of U.S. Holders to deduct capital losses is subject to limitations under the Code.

 

Adjustments Under the Warrants.  Pursuant to the terms of the warrants, the exercise price at which the common stock may be purchased and/or the number of shares of common stock that may be purchased is subject to adjustment from time to time upon the occurrence of certain events. Under Section 305 of the Code, a change in conversion ratio or any transaction having a similar effect on the interest of a holder of warrants may be treated as a distribution with respect to any U.S. Holder of warrants whose proportionate interest in our earnings and profits is increased by such change or transaction. Thus, under certain future circumstances which may or may not occur, such an adjustment pursuant to the terms of the warrants may be treated as a taxable distribution to the holder of warrants to the extent of our current or accumulated earnings and profits, without regard to whether the holder of warrants receives any cash or other property. In the event of such a taxable distribution, a U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis in its warrants will be increased by an amount equal to the taxable distribution.

 

The rules with respect to adjustments are complex, and U.S. Holders of warrants should consult their own tax advisors in the event of an adjustment.

 

Non-U.S. Holders

 

Sale or Exercise of the Warrants.  A Non-U.S. Holder generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on any gain recognized upon the sale, exchange or other disposition or upon exercise of the warrants unless:

 

 

 

Gain that is effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business in the United States (or so treated) generally will be subject to U.S. federal income tax, net of certain deductions, at regular U.S. federal income tax rates. If the Non-U.S. Holder is a foreign corporation, “effectively connected” gains recognized by the Non-U.S. Holder may also, under certain circumstances, be subject to an additional “branch profits tax” at 30% (or lower applicable income tax treaty rate). An individual Non-U.S. Holder who is subject to U.S. federal income tax because the Non-U.S. Holder was present in the United States for 183 days or more during the year of sale, exchange or other disposition of the warrants will be subject to a flat 30% tax on the gain derived from such sale, exchange or other disposition, which may be offset by U.S. source capital losses recognized in the same taxable year, even though the individual is not considered a resident of the United States under the Code. Generally, a corporation is a USRPHC if the fair market value of its “United States real property interests” equals or exceeds 50% of the sum of the fair market value of its worldwide real property interests plus its other assets used or held for use in a trade or business. We believe we are not, and have not been, a USRPHC, and we do not expect to become a USRPHC.

 

Adjustments Under the Warrants.  Any deemed distributions resulting from adjustments pursuant to the terms of the warrants to the exercise price at which the common stock may be purchased and/or the number of shares of common stock that may be purchased (see “—Warrants—U.S. Holders—Adjustments Under the Warrants” above) will be subject to U.S. federal withholding tax at a 30% rate (or lower applicable income tax treaty rate) to the extent deemed to be made out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits. In the case of any deemed distribution, it is possible that this tax would be withheld from any amount owed to you, including, but not limited to, shares of our common stock delivered upon exercise of the warrants. However, deemed distributions that are effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business within the United States and, if required by an applicable tax treaty, are attributable to a U.S. permanent establishment, are not subject to the withholding tax, but instead are subject to U.S. federal income tax on a net income basis at applicable graduated individual or corporate rates. Certain certification and disclosure requirements must be complied with in order for effectively connected income to be exempt from withholding. Any such effectively connected income received by a foreign corporation may, under certain circumstances, be subject to an additional “branch profits tax” at a 30% rate (or lower applicable income tax treaty rate).

 

Common Stock

 

U.S. Holders

 

Taxation of Dividends.  In general, distributions with respect to our common stock will constitute dividends to the extent made out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits, as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles. If a distribution exceeds our current and accumulated earnings and profits, the excess will be treated as a tax-free return of capital to the extent of the U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis in our common stock. Any remaining excess will be treated as capital gain, subject to the tax treatment described below under “—Common Stock—U.S. Holders—Taxation of Capital Gains.”

 

Dividends paid by us to corporate U.S. Holders will be eligible for the dividends-received deduction, provided that the corporate U.S. Holder receiving the dividends satisfies the holding period and other requirements for the dividends-received deduction. Dividends paid by us to certain non-corporate U.S. Holders (including individuals) with respect to taxable years

beginning on or before December 31, 2012 generally will be eligible for U.S. federal income taxation at the rates generally applicable to long-term capital gains for individuals (currently at a maximum tax rate of 15%), provided that the non-corporate U.S. Holder receiving the dividends satisfies the applicable holding period and other requirements Dividends paid by us to certain non-corporate U.S. Holders (including individuals) with respect to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2013 generally will be subject to U.S. federal income taxation at ordinary income tax rates, and may be subject to the Medicare tax described below under “—Recent Legislation—Medicare Tax.”

 

Taxation of Capital Gains.  Upon a sale, exchange or other taxable disposition of our common stock, a U.S. Holder generally will recognize capital gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized on the sale, exchange or other taxable disposition and the U.S. Holder’s adjusted tax basis in the stock. Such capital gain or loss will be long-term capital gain or loss if the U.S. Holder has held the stock for more than one year at the time of disposition. For a discussion of the U.S. Holder’s holding period in respect of common stock received upon exercising the warrants, see above under “—Warrants—U.S. Holders—Exercise of the Warrants.” Long-term capital gains of certain non-corporate U.S. Holders (including individuals) recognized in taxable years beginning on or before December 31, 2012 are subject to U.S. federal income taxation at a maximum rate of 15%, and thereafter at a maximum rate of 20%, and may be subject to the Medicare tax described below under “—Recent Legislation—Medicare Tax.” The deductibility of capital losses is subject to limitations under the Code.

 

Non-U.S. Holders

 

Taxation of Dividends.  In general, any distributions we make to a Non-U.S. Holder with respect to its shares of our common stock that constitute dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes will be subject to U.S. withholding tax at a rate of 30% of the gross amount, unless the Non-U.S. Holder is eligible for a reduced rate of withholding tax under an applicable tax treaty and the Non-U.S. Holder provides proper certification of its eligibility for such reduced rate. A distribution will constitute a dividend for U.S. federal income tax purposes to the extent made out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits as determined under U.S. federal income tax principles. Any distribution not constituting a dividend will be treated first as reducing the adjusted tax basis in the Non-U.S. Holder’s shares of our common stock and, to the extent it exceeds the adjusted tax basis in the Non-U.S. Holder’s shares of our common stock, as gain from the sale or exchange of such stock, subject to the tax treatment described below under “—Common Stock—Non-U.S. Holders—Taxation of Capital Gains.”

 

Dividends we pay to a Non-U.S. Holder that are effectively connected with its conduct of a trade or business within the United States (and, if required by an applicable tax treaty, are attributable to a U.S. permanent establishment) will not be subject to U.S. withholding tax, as described above, if the Non-U.S. Holder complies with applicable certification and disclosure requirements. Instead, such dividends generally will be subject to U.S. federal income tax on a net income basis, in the same manner as if the Non-U.S. Holder was a resident of the United States. Dividends received by a foreign corporation that are effectively connected with its conduct of a trade or business within the United States may be subject to an additional “branch profits tax” at a rate of 30% (or lower applicable income tax treaty rate).

 

Taxation of Capital Gains.  In general, a Non-U.S. Holder will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on any gain realized upon the sale or other disposition of the Non-U.S. Holder’s shares of our common stock unless:

 

 

 

Gain that is effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business in the United States (or so treated) generally will be subject to U.S. federal income tax, net of certain deductions, at regular U.S. federal income tax rates. If the Non-U.S. Holder is a foreign corporation, the “branch profits tax” described above also may apply to such effectively connected gain. An individual Non-U.S. Holder who is subject to U.S. federal income tax because the Non-U.S. Holder was present in the United States for 183 days or more during the year of sale or other disposition of our common stock will be subject to a flat 30% tax on the gain derived from such sale or other disposition, which may be offset by U.S. source capital losses recognized in the same taxable year, even though the individual is not considered a resident of the United States under the Code. We believe we are not, and have not been, a USRPHC (see “—Warrants—Non-U.S. Holders—Sale or Exercise of the Warrants” above), and we do not expect to become a USRPHC.

 

Information Reporting and Backup Withholding

 

In general, dividends on our common stock and payments to a U.S. Holder of the proceeds of a sale, exchange or other disposition of our common stock or warrants are subject to information reporting and may be subject to backup withholding unless the U.S. Holder (i) is a corporation or other exempt recipient or (ii) provides an accurate taxpayer identification number and certifies that it is not subject to backup withholding.

 

Annual reporting to the IRS and to each Non-U.S. Holder will be required as to the amount of dividends paid to such Non-U.S. Holder and the amount, if any, of tax withheld with respect to such dividends, unless the Non-U.S. Holder is an exempt recipient or otherwise establishes an exemption from such requirements. These reporting requirements apply regardless of whether withholding was reduced or eliminated by an applicable income tax treaty. This information may also be made available to the tax authorities in the country in which the Non-U.S. Holder resides or is established under the provisions of an applicable income tax treaty or agreement. Dividends generally are not subject to backup withholding if the Non-U.S. Holder properly certifies its non-U.S. status (usually by completing an IRS Form W-8BEN).

 

The payment of the proceeds of the sale, exchange or other disposition of our common stock or warrants to or through the U.S. office of a broker will be subject to both backup withholding and information reporting unless the Non-U.S. Holder certifies its non-U.S. status on IRS Form W-8BEN, or otherwise establishes an exemption. Information reporting requirements, but not backup withholding, will also generally apply to payments of the proceeds of a sale, exchange or other disposition of our common stock or warrants by non-U.S. offices of U.S. brokers or non-U.S. brokers with certain types of relationships to the United States unless the Non-U.S. Holder establishes an exemption.

 

Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Any amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules from payments made to a U.S. or Non-U.S. Holder may be refunded or credited against such U.S. or Non-U.S. Holder’s U.S. federal income tax liability, if any, provided that the required information is timely furnished to the IRS.

Recent Legislation

 

Medicare Tax

 

Recently enacted legislation provides that, effective with respect to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2012, a U.S. person that is an individual or estate, or a trust that does not fall into a special class of trusts that is exempt from such tax, will generally be subject to a 3.8% tax on the lesser of (i) the U.S. person’s “net investment income” for a taxable year or (ii) the excess of the U.S. person’s modified adjusted gross income for such taxable year over $200,000 ($250,000 in the case of joint filers). For these purposes, “net investment income” will generally include interest, dividends (including dividends paid with respect to our common stock), annuities, royalties, rents, net gain attributable to the disposition of property not held in a trade or business (including net gain from the sale, exchange or other taxable disposition of warrants or our common stock) and certain other income, but will be reduced by any deductions properly allocable to such income or net gain.

 

Withholding on Payments to Foreign Financial Entities and Other Foreign Entities

 

Beginning with payments made after December 31, 2012, recently enacted legislation will generally impose a 30% withholding tax on U.S. source dividends and gross proceeds from the sale or other disposition of stock or property that is capable of producing U.S. source dividends (possibly including instruments such as the warrants) paid to (i) a foreign financial institution (as defined in Section 1471(d)(4) of the Code) unless the foreign financial institution enters into an agreement with the U.S. Treasury Department to collect and disclose information regarding its U.S. account holders (including certain account holders that are foreign entities that have U.S. owners) and satisfies certain other requirements, and (ii) certain other non-U.S. entities unless the entity provides the payor with information regarding certain direct and indirect U.S. owners of the entity, or certifies that it has no such U.S. owners, and complies with certain other requirements. Under certain circumstances, a Non-U.S. Holder of stock might be eligible for refunds or credits of the tax. Non-U.S. Holders should consult their tax advisors regarding the possible implications of this legislation on their investment in the warrants and our common stock.

 

The following is a summary of certain considerations associated with the purchase, holding and exercise of the warrants by an employee benefit plan subject to Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, referred to as “ERISA,” a plan subject to Section 4975 of the Code, including an individual retirement account, or “IRA,” or Keogh plan, a plan subject to applicable federal, state, local, non-U.S. or other laws or regulations that are similar to the provisions of Title I of ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code, referred to collectively as “Similar Laws,” and any entity whose underlying assets include “plan assets” by reason of any such employee benefit or other plan’s investment in such entity, each of which is referred to as a “Plan.” A fiduciary of a Plan should consider the fiduciary standards of ERISA or Similar Laws in the context of the Plan’s particular circumstances before authorizing an investment in the warrants. Among other factors, a Plan fiduciary should consider whether the investment would satisfy the prudence and diversification requirements of ERISA or Similar Laws and would be consistent with the documents and instruments governing the Plan, and whether the investment would involve a prohibited transaction under ERISA, the Code or Similar Laws.

 

With respect to Plans subject to the fiduciary duty requirements of ERISA or subject to Section 4975 of the Code, Section 406 of ERISA and Section 4975 of the Code prohibit such a Plan from engaging in certain transactions with persons who are “parties in interest” under ERISA or “disqualified persons” under Section 4975 of the Code with respect to the Plan. A violation of these prohibited transaction rules may result in excise tax or other liabilities under ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code for those persons, unless exemptive relief is available under an applicable statutory, regulatory or administrative exemption. In the case of an IRA, the occurrence of a prohibited transaction could cause the IRA to lose its tax-exempt status. Plans that are governmental plans (as defined in Section 3(32) of ERISA), certain church plans (as defined in Section 3(33) of ERISA) and non-U.S. plans (as described in Section 4(b)(4) of ERISA), referred to as “Non-ERISA Arrangements,” are not subject to the requirements of Section 406 of ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code but may be subject to Similar Laws.

 

An investment in the warrants or the acquisition of our common stock upon the exercise of the warrants by a Plan, including a Plan that is an entity whose underlying assets include “plan assets” by reason of any Plan’s investment in such entity, referred to as a “Plan Asset Entity,” with respect to which we or certain of our affiliates are or become a party in interest or disqualified person may constitute or result in a direct or indirect prohibited transaction under ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code, unless such acquisition or exercise is made pursuant to an applicable exemption. The U.S. Department of Labor has issued five prohibited transaction class exemptions, or “PTCEs,” that may provide exemptive relief if required for direct or indirect prohibited transactions that may arise from the purchase of common stock. These exemptions are PTCE 84-14 (for certain transactions determined by independent qualified professional asset managers), PTCE 90-1 (for certain transactions involving insurance company pooled separate accounts), PTCE 91-38 (for certain transactions involving bank collective investment funds), PTCE 95-60 (for transactions involving certain insurance company general accounts), and PTCE 96-23 (for transactions managed by in-house asset managers). In addition, ERISA Section 408(b)(17) and Section 4975(d)(20) of the Code provide an exemption for the purchase and sale of securities offered hereby, provided that neither the issuer of securities offered hereby nor any of its affiliates have or exercise any discretionary authority or control or render any investment advice with respect to the assets of any Plan involved in the transaction, that the issuer is a party in interest or disqualified person solely by reason of being a service provider to the Plan involved in the transaction or having a relationship to such service provider, and provided further that the Plan pays no more and receives no less than “adequate consideration” in connection with the transaction, referred to as the “service provider

exemption.” There can be no assurance that all of the conditions of any such exemptions will be satisfied at the time that the warrants are acquired or exercised by a purchaser.

 

Any purchaser or holder of warrants or common stock or any interest therein will be deemed to have represented by its purchase of the warrants or common stock pursuant to the exercise of the warrants that either (1) it is not a Plan (including, without limitation, a Plan Asset Entity or a Non-ERISA Arrangement) and is not purchasing the warrants or common stock pursuant thereto on behalf of or with the assets of any Plan (including, without limitation, a Plan Asset Entity or Non-ERISA Arrangement) or (2) the purchase of the warrants or common stock pursuant thereto will not constitute a non-exempt prohibited transaction under ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code or a similar violation under any applicable Similar Laws.

 

The foregoing discussion is general in nature and is not intended to be all-inclusive. Due to the complexity of these rules and the penalties that may be imposed upon persons involved in non-exempt prohibited transactions, it is important that fiduciaries or other persons considering purchasing and/or exercising warrants on behalf of or with the assets of any Plan (including a Plan Asset Entity or Non-ERISA Arrangement) consult with their counsel regarding potential applicability of ERISA, Section 4975 of the Code or any Similar Laws to such investment and whether an exemption is available under any of the PTCEs listed above, the service provider exemption or the potential consequences of any purchase or holding under Similar Laws, as applicable. Purchasers of warrants have exclusive responsibility for ensuring that their purchase, holding and exercise of warrants do not violate the fiduciary or prohibited transaction rules of ERISA, the Code or any similar provisions of Similar Laws. The acquisition, holding and, to the extent relevant, exercise of, warrants or common stock by any Plan is in no respect a representation by us or any of our affiliates or representatives that such an investment meets all relevant legal requirements with respect to investments by such Plans generally or any particular Plan, or that such an investment is appropriate for Plans generally or any particular Plan.

 

Subject to the terms and conditions of the underwriting agreement, the underwriter, Deutsche Bank Securities, has agreed to purchase from the selling security holder the following respective number of warrants at the public offering price less the underwriting discounts and commissions set forth on the cover page of this prospectus supplement:

 

 

The underwriting agreement provides that the obligations of the underwriter to purchase the warrants offered hereby are subject to certain conditions precedent and that the underwriter will purchase all of the warrants the selling security holder determines to sell, if any are purchased. The number of warrants that the selling security holder may determine to sell will depend, in part, upon the success of the auction process. See “Auction Process—The Auction Process—Pricing and Allocation.”

 

The underwriter plans to offer the warrants for sale pursuant to the auction process described above under “Auction Process.” Warrants sold by the underwriter to the public will be sold at the clearing price determined through that auction process. During the auction period, bids may be placed at any price (in increments of $0.10) at or above the minimum bid price of $13.50 per warrant. The offering of the warrants by the underwriter is subject to receipt and acceptance and subject to the underwriter’s right to reject any order in whole or in part. As described under “Auction Process,” the selling security holder may decide not to sell any warrants, regardless of the clearing price set in the auction process.

 

The underwriting discounts and commissions are the greater of (i) $150,000 and (ii) the sum of (1) 1.4% of the public offering price per warrant with respect to the first $200,000,000 of gross proceeds of the offering of the warrants plus (2) 0.9% of the public offering price per warrant with respect to gross proceeds of the offering of the warrants in excess of $200,000,000. The selling security holder has agreed to pay the underwriter the following discounts and commissions:

 

 

We estimate that our share of the total expenses of the offering, including registration, filing and listing fees, printing fees and legal and accounting expenses, will be approximately $250,000.

 

We have agreed to indemnify the underwriter against some specified types of liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, and to contribute to payments the underwriter may be required to make in respect of any of these liabilities.

 

Each of our executive officers and directors has agreed, subject to certain specified exceptions, not to offer, sell, pledge, contract to sell or otherwise dispose of, or enter into any transaction that is designed to, or could be expected to, result in the disposition of any warrants or shares of our common stock or other securities convertible into or exchangeable or exercisable for shares of our common stock or derivatives of our warrants or our common stock owned by these persons prior to this offering or common stock issuable upon exercise of options or warrants held by these persons during the period from the date of this prospectus supplement continuing through the date 45 days after the date of this prospectus supplement, except with the prior written consent of the underwriter. Any such consent may be given at any time without public notice. We have entered into a similar agreement with the underwriter with respect to the

period from the date of this prospectus supplement continuing through the date 45 days after the date of this prospectus supplement, which can only be waived with the prior written consent of the underwriter, except that without such consent we may, among other things, (i) issue common stock or securities convertible into or exchangeable for common stock in connection the exercise of options, warrants and securities outstanding on the date hereof, including with respect to any tangible equity units or stock purchase contracts, (ii) sell or distribute equity securities and/or options or other rights in respect thereof solely registered on Form S-3 (with respect to our stock-based compensation or incentive plans), S-4 or S-8 (or any successor form), (iii) grant and issue shares of equity securities and/or options or other rights in respect thereof pursuant to stock-based compensation or incentive plans, (iv) issue common stock in connection with dividend reinvestment plans or employee stock purchase plans, (v) issue common stock in connection with any court order or decree and (vi) any shares of common stock, in the aggregate not to exceed 2.5% of the number of shares of common stock outstanding at the time of the issuance, issued as consideration or partial consideration for acquisitions by us or any of our subsidiaries of the securities, businesses, property or other assets of another person or entity. The Securities Purchase Agreement with Treasury contains similar but more restrictive lock-up provisions. There are no agreements between either Deutsche Bank Securities or the selling security holder and us or any of our stockholders or affiliates releasing us or them from these lock-up agreements prior to the expiration of the 45-day period.

 

The warrants have no established trading market. We have applied to list the warrants on NASDAQ under the symbol “WTFCW.” The underwriter may make a market in the warrants after completion of the offering, but will not be obligated to do so and may discontinue any market-making activities at any time without notice. No assurance can be given as to the liquidity of the trading market for the warrants or that an active public market for the warrants will develop.

 

In connection with the offering and any subsequent market-making activities, the underwriter may purchase and sell warrants or common stock in the open market. These transactions may include stabilizing transactions, which consist of various bids for or purchases of shares of common stock made by the underwriter in the open market prior to the completion of the offering, or other purchases. In addition, the underwriter may engage in short sales and purchases to cover positions created by short sales in connection with any market-making activities. Short sales would involve the sale by the underwriter of a greater number of securities than they then hold, and must be closed out by purchasing those securities in the open market. Stabilizing transactions and purchases to cover a short position, as well as other purchases by the underwriter for its own accounts, may have the effect of preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of the warrants or the common stock, and may stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the market price of the warrants or the common stock. As a result, the price of the warrants or the common stock may be higher than the price that otherwise might exist in the open market. If these activities are commenced, they may be discontinued at any time. These transactions may be effected on the NASDAQ, in the over-the-counter market or otherwise.

 

The underwriter and its respective affiliates have, from time to time, provided, and may in the future provide, various investment banking and financial advisory services to us and to the selling security holder, for which they received or will receive customary fees and expenses. The underwriter has agreed to provide various services to Treasury in connection with sales of the warrants of certain financial institutions (as defined in the EESA) in connection with offerings of those warrants to be conducted as public auctions, pursuant to which the underwriter is entitled to an administrative fee of $250,000 and a minimum commitment fee of up to $10 million for services performed during the two-year commitment period (subject to reduction by the amount of any underwriting compensation received by the underwriter in connection with completed auctions). The commitment fee (as so reduced) generally is payable only at the end of that two-year period.

Notice to Prospective Investors in the European Economic Area

 

In relation to each member state of the European Economic Area that has implemented the Prospectus Directive (each, a relevant member state), with effect from and including the date on which the Prospectus Directive is implemented in that relevant member state (the relevant implementation date), an offer of warrants and shares of Common Stock described in this prospectus supplement may not be made to the public in that relevant member state prior to the publication of a prospectus in relation to the warrants and shares of Common Stock that has been approved by the competent authority in that relevant member state or, where appropriate, approved in another relevant member state and notified to the competent authority in that relevant member state, all in accordance with the Prospectus Directive, except that, with effect from and including the relevant implementation date, an offer of warrants may be made to the public in that relevant member state at any time:

 

 

For purposes of this provision, the expression an “offer of the warrants to the public” in any relevant member state means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the warrants to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase or subscribe the warrants, as the expression may be varied in that member state by any measure implementing the Prospectus Directive in that member state, and the expression “Prospectus Directive” means Directive 2003/71/EC (and amendments thereto, including the 2010 PD Amending Directive, to the extent implemented in the Relevant Member State), and includes any relevant implementing measure in each relevant member state and the expression 2010 PD Amending Directive means Directive 2010/73/EU.

 

This EEA selling restriction is in addition to any other selling restrictions set out in this Prospectus Supplement.

 

Notice to Prospective Investors in the United Kingdom

 

This prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus are only being distributed to, and is only directed at, persons in the United Kingdom that (i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the “Order”) or (ii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (each such person being referred to as a “relevant person”). The warrants and shares of Common Stock are only available to, and any invitation, offer or agreement to subscribe, purchase or otherwise acquire such warrants and shares of Common Stock will be engaged in only with, relevant persons.

 

Notice to Prospective Investors in Hong Kong

 

The warrants may not be offered or sold in Hong Kong by means of any document other than (i) in circumstances which do not constitute an offer to the public within the meaning of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32, Laws of Hong Kong), or (ii) to “professional investors” within the meaning of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571, Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made thereunder, or (iii) in other circumstances which do not result in the document being a “prospectus” within the meaning of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32, Laws of Hong Kong) and no advertisement, invitation or document relating to the warrants

may be issued or may be in the possession of any person for the purpose of issue (in each case whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere), which is directed at, or the contents of which are likely to be accessed or read by, the public in Hong Kong (except if permitted to do so under the laws of Hong Kong) other than with respect to warrants which are or are intended to be disposed of only to persons outside Hong Kong or only to “professional investors” within the meaning of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571, Laws of Hong Kong) and any rules made thereunder.

 

Notice to Prospective Investors in Japan

 

No securities registration statement (“SRS”) has been filed under Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law of Japan (Law No. 25 of 1948, as amended) (“FIEL”) in relation to the warrants. The warrants are being offered in a private placement to “qualified institutional investors” (tekikaku-kikan-toshika) under Article 10 of the Cabinet Office Ordinance concerning Definitions provided in Article 2 of the FIEL (the Ministry of Finance Ordinance No. 14, as amended) (“QIIs”), under Article 2, Paragraph 3, Item 2 i of the FIEL. Any QII acquiring the warrants in this offer may not transfer or resell those warrants except to other OIIs.

 

Notice to Prospective Investors in Singapore

 

This prospectus supplement has not been registered as a prospectus with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Accordingly, this prospectus supplement and any other document or material in connection with the offer or sale, or invitation for subscription or purchase, of the warrants may not be circulated or distributed, nor may the warrants be offered or sold, or be made the subject of an invitation for subscription or purchase, whether directly or indirectly, to persons in Singapore other than (i) to an institutional investor under Section 274 of the Securities and Futures Act, Chapter 289 of Singapore (the “SFA”), (ii) to a relevant person pursuant to Section 275(1), or any person pursuant to Section 275(1A), and in accordance with the conditions specified in Section 275 of the SFA or (iii) otherwise pursuant to, and in accordance with the conditions of, any other applicable provision of the SFA, in each case subject to compliance with conditions set forth in the SFA.

 

Where the warrants are subscribed or purchased under Section 275 of the SFA by a relevant person which is:

 

 

then shares, debentures and units of shares and debentures of that corporation or the beneficiaries’ rights and interest (howsoever described) in that trust shall not be transferred within six months after that corporation or that trust has acquired the warrants pursuant to an offer made under Section 275 of the SFA except:

 

 

 

United Arab Emirates

 

This prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus have not been approved or licensed by the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (the “UAE”), Securities and Commodities Authority of the UAE and/or any other relevant licensing authority in the UAE. The offer of the warrants does not constitute a public offer of securities in the UAE in accordance with relevant laws of the UAE, in particular, the Commercial Companies Law, Federal law No. 8 of 1984 (as amended). The warrants may not be offered to the public in the UAE. The warrants may only be offered and issued to a limited number of investors in the UAE who qualify as sophisticated investors under the relevant laws and regulations of the UAE. The underwriter represents and warrants that the warrants will not be offered, sold, transferred or delivered to the public in the UAE.

 

Notice to Prospective Investors in the Dubai International Financial Centre

 

This statement relates to an “exempt offer” in accordance with the Offered Securities Rules of the Dubai Financial Services Authority. This statement is intended for distribution only to persons of a type specified in those rules. It must not be delivered to, or relied on by, any other person. The Dubai Financial Services Authority has no responsibility for reviewing or verifying any documents in connection with exempt offers. The Dubai Financial Services Authority has not approved this prospectus supplement nor taken steps to verify the information set out in it, and has no responsibility for it. The warrants to which this prospectus supplement relates may be illiquid and/or subject to restrictions on their resale. Prospective purchasers of the warrants offered should conduct their own due diligence on the warrants. If you do not understand the contents of this prospectus supplement you should consult an authorized financial adviser. For the avoidance of doubt, the warrants are not interests in a “fund” or “collective investment scheme” within the meaning of either the Collective Investment Law (DIFC Law No. 1 of 2006) or the Collective Investment Rules Module of the Dubai Financial Services Authority Rulebook.

 

The validity of the warrants offered hereby will be passed upon for Wintrust by Sidley Austin LLP, Chicago, Illinois. Certain legal matters related to the offering will be passed upon for the underwriter by Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, New York, New York and by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, New York, New York.

 

The consolidated financial statements of Wintrust Financial Corporation incorporated by reference in Wintrust Financial Corporation’s Annual Report (Form 10-K) for the year ended December 31, 2009 and the effectiveness of Wintrust Financial Corporation’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2009, have been audited by Ernst & Young LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, as set forth in their reports thereon incorporated by reference therein, and incorporated herein by reference. Such consolidated financial statements and Wintrust Financial Corporation’s management’s assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2009 are incorporated herein by reference in reliance upon such reports given on the authority of such firm as experts in accounting and auditing.

PROSPECTUS

 

$300,000,000

 

Wintrust Financial Corporation

 

Debt Securities, Common Shares, Preferred Shares, Depositary Shares, Warrants, Stock Purchase Contracts,

Stock Purchase Units, Junior Subordinated Debentures, Guarantee of Trust Preferred Securities, Hybrid Securities

Combining Elements of the Foregoing, Fixed Rate Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series B, and

Warrant to Purchase up to 1,643,295 Common Shares

 

Wintrust Capital Trust VI

 

Trust Preferred Securities

 

This prospectus relates to the potential offer and sale by us, in one or more offerings, of debt securities, common shares, preferred shares, depositary shares, warrants, stock purchase contracts, stock purchase units, trust preferred securities, junior subordinated debentures, guarantee of trust preferred securities and hybrid securities combining elements of the foregoing. We will describe the specific terms of the securities that we offer in one or more supplements to this prospectus at the time of each offering. Those terms may include maturity, interest rate, sinking fund terms, currency of payments, dividends, redemption terms, listing on a securities exchange, amount payable at maturity, conversion or exchange rights, liquidation amount, subsidiary guarantees and subordination.

 

This prospectus also relates to the potential resale from time to time by selling securityholders of some or all of the shares of our Fixed Rate Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series B, or the series B preferred, a warrant to purchase 1,643,295 shares of our common stock, or the warrant, and any shares of our common stock issuable from time to time upon exercise of the warrant. The series B preferred and the warrant were originally issued by us pursuant to the Letter Agreement dated December 19, 2008, and the related Securities Purchase Agreement — Standard Terms, between us and the United States Department of the Treasury, which we refer to as the initial selling securityholder, in a transaction exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

 

We and the initial selling securityholder and its successors, including transferees, which we collectively refer to as the selling securityholders, may offer the securities on a continuous or delayed basis from time to time directly or through underwriters, dealers or agents and in one or more public or private transactions and at fixed prices, prevailing market prices, at prices related to prevailing market prices or at negotiated prices. If any offering involves underwriters, dealers or agents, we will describe our and the selling securityholders’ arrangements with them in the prospectus supplement that relates to that offering, and the selling securityholders will be responsible for underwriting discounts or commissions or agents’ commissions with respect to any securities sold by them. This prospectus may not be used to offer and sell the securities unless accompanied by a prospectus supplement. A prospectus supplement may add, update or change information contained in this prospectus. You should read this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement, as well as the documents incorporated and deemed to be incorporated by reference in this prospectus, carefully before you invest.

 

We will not receive any proceeds from any sale of securities by the selling securityholders.

 

Wintrust Financial Corporation’s Common Stock is quoted on the NASDAQ National Market under the trading symbol “WTFC”. On March 6, 2009, the closing sale price on the NASDAQ National Market for such Common Stock was $10.05. None of the other securities that may be offered pursuant to this prospectus are listed on an exchange. We will use our reasonable best efforts to list the series B preferred if requested to do so by the initial selling securityholder.

 

Investing in our securities involves risk. See “Risk Factors” on page 2 of this prospectus.

 

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the adequacy or accuracy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

Wintrust Financial Corporation’s principal executive offices are located at 727 North Bank Lane, Lake Forest, Illinois 60045 and the telephone number is (847) 615-4096. Wintrust Capital Trust VI’s principal executive offices are located at 727 North Bank Lane, Lake Forest, Illinois 60045 and the telephone number is (847) 615-4096.

 

The date of this prospectus is March 9, 2009

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

 

This prospectus is part of a registration statement that we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, utilizing a “shelf” registration process. Under this shelf process, we and the selling securityholders may, from time to time, offer and sell, in one or more offerings, the securities described in this prospectus. This prospectus provides you with a general description of the securities we and the selling securityholders may offer. Each time we or the selling securityholders use this prospectus to offer these securities, we will provide a prospectus supplement that will contain specific information about the terms of that offering. The prospectus supplement may also add, update or change information contained in this prospectus. Please carefully read this prospectus and the prospectus supplement together with the additional information described under the heading “Where You Can Find More Information.”

 

You should rely only on the information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus and in any accompanying prospectus supplement. We have not authorized any other person to provide you with different information. This document may only be used where it is legal to sell these securities. We and the selling securityholders are not making an offer of these securities in any state where the offer is not permitted. You should only assume that the information in this prospectus or in any prospectus supplement is accurate as of the date on the front of the document. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since that date.

 

Each reference in this prospectus to “Wintrust” or “the Company,” means Wintrust Financial Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries, unless the context requires otherwise. Each reference in this prospectus to the “trust” or the “Trust” refers to Wintrust Capital Trust VI. The terms “we”, “us” and “our” refer to Wintrust when discussing the securities to be issued by Wintrust, the Trust when discussing the securities to be issued by the Trust and collectively to all of the Registrants where the context requires.

 

PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

	•	issuing the trust preferred securities to the public for cash;
	•	issuing the common securities to us;
	•	investing the proceeds from the sale of its preferred and common securities in an equivalent amount of junior subordinated debentures to be issued by us; and

	•	engaging in activities that are incidental to those listed above, such as receiving payments on the debentures and making distributions to security holders, furnishing notices and other administrative tasks.

 

Our business is subject to uncertainties and risks. You should carefully consider and evaluate all of the information included and incorporated by reference in this prospectus, including the risk factors incorporated by reference from our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, as updated by our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other SEC filings filed after such annual report. It is possible that our business, financial condition, liquidity or results of operations could be materially adversely affected by any of these risks.

 

This prospectus, the documents that we incorporate by reference and any related prospectus supplement may contain statements that are statements concerning our expectations, plans, objectives, future financial performance and other items that are not historical facts. These statements are “forward looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those included in the forward looking statements. In connection with the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the Registrants are filing herein or incorporated by reference cautionary statements identifying important factors that could cause their respective actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward looking statements (as such term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) made by or on behalf of the Registrants. Any statements that express or involve discussions as to expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events, performance or growth (often, but not always, through the use of words or phrases such as “may”, “could”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “estimates”, “expects”, “intends”, “plans”, “forecasts” and similar expressions) are not statements of historical facts and are forward looking. Forward looking statements involve estimates, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward looking statements. Accordingly, any such statements are qualified in their entirety by reference to, and are accompanied by, the important factors described in the sections of Wintrust’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 filed with the SEC on March 2, 2009 entitled “Risk Factors” and “Forward-Looking Statements” that could cause a Registrant’s actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward looking statements of such Registrant made by or on behalf of such Registrant.

 

All such factors are difficult to predict, contain uncertainties that may materially affect actual results and are beyond the control of the Registrants. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements. Any forward looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and the Registrants undertake no obligation to update any forward looking statement or statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for each Registrant’s management to predict all of such factors, nor can such management assess the impact of each such factor on the business of such Registrant or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results of such Registrant to differ materially from those contained in any forward looking statements.

 

Except as otherwise provided in the related prospectus supplement, we will use the net proceeds from the sale by the Company of the offered securities for general corporate purposes. These purposes may include:

 

 

Pending such use, we may temporarily invest the net proceeds in short-term securities or reduce our short-term indebtedness, or we may hold the net proceeds in deposit accounts in our subsidiary banks.

 

We will not receive any proceeds from any securities sold by the selling securityholders.

 

The Trust will invest all proceeds received from the sale of its preferred securities and common securities in a particular series of subordinated debt securities of Wintrust Financial Corporation.

 

Our historical ratios of earnings to fixed charges for the periods indicated are set forth in the table below. The ratio of earnings to fixed charges is computed by dividing (1) income before income taxes and fixed charges by (2) total fixed charges. For purposes of computing these ratios:

 

 

 

We may offer under this prospectus debt securities, common shares, preferred shares, depositary shares, warrants, stock purchase contracts, stock purchase units, junior subordinated debentures, guarantee of trust preferred securities or any combination of the foregoing, either individually or as units consisting of two or more securities. The selling securityholders may offer for resale under this prospectus series B preferred, the warrant and shares of our common stock issuable from time to time upon exercise of the warrant. The trust may offer trust preferred securities under this prospectus.

 

The following description of the terms of these securities sets forth some of the general terms and provisions of securities that may be offered by us and the selling securityholders. The particular terms of securities offered by any prospectus supplement and the extent, if any, to which the general terms set forth below do not apply to those securities, will be described in the related prospectus supplement. In addition, if we offer securities as units, the terms of the units will be described in the applicable prospectus supplement. If the information contained in the prospectus supplement differs from the following description, you should rely on the information in the prospectus supplement.

 

Debt May be Senior or Subordinated

 

We may issue, and offer pursuant to this prospectus, senior or subordinated debt securities. The senior debt securities and, in the case of debt securities in bearer form, any coupons to these securities, will constitute part of our senior debt and, except as otherwise included in the applicable prospectus supplement, will rank on a parity with all of our other unsecured and unsubordinated debt. The subordinated debt securities and any coupons will constitute part of our subordinated debt and will be subordinate and junior in right of payment to all of our “senior indebtedness,” which will be defined in the applicable prospectus supplement. If this prospectus is being delivered in connection with a series of subordinated debt securities, the accompanying prospectus supplement or the information we incorporate in this prospectus by reference will indicate the approximate amount of senior indebtedness outstanding as of the end of the most recent fiscal quarter. Our

debt securities will be issued under an indenture, the form of which is included as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part.

 

The following briefly summarizes the material provisions of the indenture, which has been filed with the SEC and incorporated by reference in the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. This summary of the indenture is not complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the indentures. You should read the more detailed provisions of the indenture, including the defined terms, for provisions that may be important to you. You should also read the particular terms of a series of debt securities, which will be described in more detail in the applicable prospectus supplement.

 

Payments

 

We may issue debt securities from time to time in one or more series. The provisions of the indenture allow us to “reopen” a previous issue of a series of debt securities and issue additional debt securities of that issue. The debt securities may be denominated and payable in U.S. dollars.

 

Debt securities may bear interest at a fixed rate or a floating rate, which, in either case, may be zero, or at a rate that varies during the lifetime of the debt security. Debt securities may be sold at a discount below their stated principal amount.

 

Terms Specified in Prospectus Supplement

 

The prospectus supplement will contain, where applicable, the following terms of and other information relating to any offered debt securities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Registration and Transfer of Debt Securities

 

Holders may present debt securities for exchange, and holders of registered debt securities may present these securities for transfer, in the manner, at the places and subject to the restrictions stated in the debt securities and described in the applicable prospectus supplement. We will provide these services without charge except for any tax or other governmental charge payable in connection with these services and subject to any limitations provided in the applicable indenture.

 

If any of the securities are held in global form, the procedures for transfer of interests in those securities will depend upon the procedures of the depositary for those global securities.

 

Subordination Provisions

 

Subordinated debt securities will be subordinate and junior in right of payment, to the extent and in the manner stated in the applicable prospectus supplement, to all of our senior indebtedness.

 

Unless all principal of and any premium or interest on the senior indebtedness has been paid in full, or provision has been made to make these payments in full, no payment of principal of, or any premium or interest on, any subordinated debt securities may be made in the event:

 

 

 

Covenants Mergers and Other Significant Corporate Actions

 

Merger, Consolidation, Sale, Lease or Conveyance.  The indenture provides that we will not merge or consolidate with any other person and will not sell, lease or convey all or substantially all of our assets to any other person, unless:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Absence of Protections Against All Potential Actions of Wintrust.  There are no covenants or other provisions in the indenture that would afford holders of debt securities additional protection in the event of a recapitalization transaction, a change of control of Wintrust or a highly leveraged transaction. The merger covenant described above would only apply if the recapitalization transaction, change of control or highly leveraged transaction were structured to include a merger or consolidation of Wintrust or a sale, lease or conveyance of all or substantially all of our assets. However, we may provide specific protections, such as a put right or increased interest, for particular debt securities, which we would describe in the applicable prospectus supplement.

 

Events of Default

 

The indenture provides holders of debt securities with remedies if we fail to perform specific obligations, such as making payments on the debt securities or other indebtedness, or if we become bankrupt. Holders should review these provisions and understand which of our actions trigger an event of default and which actions do not. The indenture permits the issuance of debt securities in one or more series, and, in many cases, whether an event of default has occurred is determined on a series-by-series basis.

 

An “event of default” is defined under the indenture, with respect to any series of debt securities issued under that indenture, as being:

 

 

 

If a failure, default or acceleration referred to in the fifth and sixth clauses above ceases or is cured, waived, rescinded or annulled, then the event of default under the applicable indenture caused by that failure, default or acceleration will also be considered cured.

 

Acceleration of Debt Securities upon an Event of Default.  The indenture provides that:

 

 

Annulment of Acceleration and Waiver of Defaults.  In some circumstances, with respect to a series, if any and all events of default under the indenture, other than the non-payment of the principal of or interest on the securities that has become due as a result of an acceleration, have been cured, waived or otherwise remedied, then the holders of a majority in aggregate principal amount of such series of outstanding debt securities affected, voting as one class, may annul past declarations of acceleration of or waive past defaults of the debt securities in such series.

 

Indemnification of Trustee for Actions Taken on Your Behalf.  The indenture contains a provision entitling the trustee, subject to the duty of the trustee during a default to act with the required standard of care, to be indemnified by the holders of debt securities issued under the indenture before proceeding to exercise any trust or power at the request of holders. Subject to these provisions and some other limitations, the holders of a majority in aggregate principal amount of each series of outstanding debt securities, voting as one class, may, with respect to debt securities of that class, direct the time, method and place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the applicable trustee, or exercising any trust or power conferred on the trustee.

 

Limitation on Actions by You as an Individual Holder.  The indenture provides that no individual holder of debt securities may institute any action against us under the indenture, except actions for payment of overdue principal and interest, unless the following actions have occurred:

 

 

 

Annual Certification.  The indenture contains a covenant that we will file annually with the trustee a certificate of no default or a certificate specifying any default that exists.

 

Discharge, Defeasance and Covenant Defeasance

 

We have the ability to eliminate most or all of our obligations on any series of debt securities prior to maturity if we comply with the following provisions.

 

Discharge.  Under the indenture, we may discharge specific obligations to holders of any series of debt securities (1) that have been delivered to the trustee for cancellation or (2) that either have become due and payable or will, within one year, become due and payable or scheduled for redemption, by depositing with the trustee, in trust, funds in an amount sufficient to pay when due, whether at maturity or upon redemption, the principal of and interest on the debt securities to the stated maturity or redemption date, as the case may be.

 

Defeasance and Covenant Defeasance.  If the provisions in the indenture relating to defeasance and covenant defeasance are applicable to the debt securities of any series, we may elect either:

 

 

in either case upon the irrevocable deposit by us with the trustee, in trust, of an amount, in cash and/or U.S. government obligations, sufficient to make scheduled payments of the principal of and interest on the debt securities, when due, whether at maturity, upon redemption or otherwise, and any mandatory sinking fund payments.

 

Defeasance will only be permitted if, among other things:

 

 

The applicable prospectus supplement may further describe the provisions, if any, permitting defeasance or covenant defeasance, including any modifications to the provisions described above, with respect to the debt securities of a particular series.

 

Modification of the Indenture

 

Modification Without Consent of Holders.  We and the applicable trustee may enter into supplemental indentures without the consent of the holders of debt securities issued under a particular indenture to, among other things:

 

 

Modification with Consent of Holders.  We and the applicable trustee, with the consent of the holders of not less than a majority in aggregate principal amount of each affected series of outstanding debt securities, each affected series voting as a separate class, may add any provisions to, or change in any manner or eliminate any of the provisions of, the applicable indenture or modify in any manner the rights of the holders of those debt securities. However, we and the trustee may not, among other things, make any of the following changes to any outstanding debt security without the consent of each holder that would be affected by such change:

 

 

Governing Law

 

Unless otherwise specified in a prospectus supplement, the debt securities and the indenture will be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of Illinois.

 

Below is a brief description of our capital stock, which we may offer hereunder and which, in the case of our common stock and the series B preferred, may be resold hereunder by the selling securityholders. This description does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to our Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation, as Amended, our Amended and Restated By-laws, the Statement of Resolution Establishing Series of Junior Serial Preferred Stock A, the Amended and Restated Certificate of Designations of 8.00% Non- Cumulative Perpetual Convertible Preferred Stock, Series A, or the Series A Certificate of Designations, and the Certificate of Designations of Fixed Rate Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series B, or the Series B Certificate of Designations.

 

Authorized Capital Stock

 

Under Wintrust’s amended and restated articles of incorporation, as amended, Wintrust has the authority to issue 60 million shares of common stock, no par value per share, and 20 million shares of preferred stock, no par value per share. Of the 20 million shares of preferred stock, 50,000 have been designated 8.00% Non-Cumulative Perpetual Convertible Preferred Stock, Series A, or the series A preferred, 250,000 have been designated Fixed Rate Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series B, or the series B preferred, and 100,000 have been designated Junior Serial Preferred Stock A, or the junior serial preferred stock. Our junior serial preferred stock was authorized in connection with our adoption of a rights agreement on July 28, 1998. These rights expired on June 30, 2005. As of March 6, 2009, 23,877,870 shares of common stock, 50,000 shares of series A preferred, 250,000 shares of series B preferred and no shares of junior serial preferred stock were issued and outstanding.

 

Common Stock

 

General.  We may issue and offer shares of our common stock, and the selling securityholders may offer for resale shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrant issued to the initial selling securityholder. All shares of Wintrust common stock are, and the shares of Wintrust common stock issuable upon conversion of the series A preferred or upon exercise of the warrant issued to the initial selling securityholder will be, duly authorized, validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable. The rights, preferences and privileges of holders of Wintrust common stock are subject to, and may be adversely affected by, the rights of the holders of shares of any series of Wintrust preferred stock, including the series A preferred, series B preferred, junior serial preferred stock and any series of preferred stock that Wintrust may designate and issue in the future. Shares of Wintrust common stock may be certificated or uncertificated, as provided by the Illinois Business Corporation Act, or the IBCA.

 

Voting Rights.  Each holder of our common stock is entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters submitted to a vote of shareholders and does not have cumulative voting rights. Accordingly, holders of a majority of the shares of our common stock entitled to vote in any election of directors may elect all of our directors standing for election.

 

Dividend Rights.  The holders of our common stock are entitled to receive dividends, if and when declared payable by our board of directors from any funds legally available for the payment of dividends, subject to any preferential dividend rights of outstanding Wintrust preferred stock, including the series A preferred and series B preferred. Upon our liquidation, dissolution or winding up, the holders of our common stock are entitled to share pro rata in our net assets available after the payment of all debts and other liabilities and subject to the prior rights of any outstanding preferred stock, including the series A preferred and series B preferred.

 

Preemptive Rights.  Under our amended and restated articles of incorporation, as amended, the holders of our common stock have no preemptive, subscription, redemption or conversion rights.

 

Listing.  Our common shares are listed on the NASDAQ National Stock Market. We intend to apply to the NASDAQ National Market to list the additional common shares offered hereby.

Series A Preferred Stock

 

General.  Shares of our series A preferred are not registered for sale pursuant to this prospectus.

 

Dividends.  Non-Cumulative Dividends on the series A preferred are payable quarterly in arrears if, when and as declared by our Board of Directors, at a rate of 8.00% per year on the liquidation preference of $1,000 per share. With certain limited exceptions, if we do not pay full cash dividends on the series A preferred for the most recently completed dividend period, we may not pay dividends on, or repurchase, redeem or make a liquidation payment with respect to, our common stock or other stock ranking equally with or junior to the series A preferred. The series A preferred is not redeemable by the holders thereof or us.

 

Conversion.  Holders of the series A preferred may convert their shares into common stock at any time. We may convert all of the series A preferred into common stock upon the consummation of certain Fundamental Transactions (as defined in the Series A Certificate of Designations) consummated on or after August 26, 2010, provided that we have declared and paid in full dividends on the series A preferred for the four most recently completed quarterly dividend periods. On or after August 26, 2013, we may convert any or all of the series A preferred into common stock if, for 20 trading days during any period of 30 consecutive trading days, the closing price of our common stock exceeds $35.59 and we have declared and paid in full dividends on the series A preferred for the four most recently completed quarterly dividend periods. The conversion price of the series A preferred is subject to customary anti-dilution adjustments. In addition, the conversion price will be adjusted if we sell more than $10 million of common stock (or securities convertible into or exchangeable for common stock) prior to August 26, 2010 at a price per share that is less than an amount that is $1.00 beneath the then applicable conversion price.

 

Reorganization Events and Fundamental Transactions.  If the Company consummates a Reorganization Event (as defined in the Series A Certificate of Designations), each share of the series A preferred will, without the consent of the holders, become convertible into the kind of securities, cash and other property receivable in such Reorganization Event by a holder of the shares of common stock. If we consummates a Fundamental Transaction prior to August 26, 2010, holders of shares of series A preferred may convert such shares into the right to receive the consideration into which shares of common stock are exchanged or converted as a result of such Fundamental Transaction. The consideration to be received by the holders of series A preferred for each share of common stock into which the series A preferred is convertible must have a fair value of at least $38.33 per share, which is equal to 140% of the initial conversion price, if such Fundamental Transaction is consummated on or prior to August 26, 2009, and a fair value of at least $36.96 per share, which is equal to 135% of the initial conversion price, if such Fundamental Transaction is consummated prior to August 26, 2010, in each case as equitably adjusted for stock splits, stock combinations, stock dividends or similar transactions.

 

Voting Rights.  Holders of the series A preferred generally do not have any voting rights, except as required by law. However, we may not amend our articles of incorporation in a manner adverse to the rights of the series A preferred, issue capital stock ranking senior to the series A preferred or take certain other actions without the approval of the holders of the series A preferred. In addition, holders of the series A preferred, together with the holders of other parity securities having similar voting rights, may elect two directors if we have not paid dividends on the series A preferred for four or more quarterly dividend periods, whether or not consecutive.

 

The series A preferred is not traded or quoted on any market.

 

Description of Series B Preferred Stock

 

General.  The shares of our series B preferred are registered for resale by the selling securityholders pursuant to this prospectus.

 

Dividends.  Holders of shares of series B preferred are entitled to receive if, as and when declared by our board of directors, out of legally available funds, cumulative cash dividends at a rate per annum of 5% per share on a liquidation preference of $1,000 per share of series B preferred with respect to each dividend period from December 19, 2008 to, but excluding, December 20, 2013. From and after December 20, 2013, holders

of shares of series B preferred are entitled to receive cumulative cash dividends at a rate per annum of 9% per share on a liquidation preference of $1,000 per share of series B preferred with respect to each dividend period thereafter.

 

Dividends on the series B preferred are payable quarterly in arrears on each February 15, May 15, August 15 and November 15 (each, a “dividend payment date”), starting with February 15, 2009. If any dividend payment date is not a business day, then the next business day will be the applicable dividend payment date, and in that circumstance no additional dividends will accrue as a result of the applicable postponement of the dividend payment date. Dividends payable during any dividend period are computed on the basis of a 360-day year consisting of twelve 30-day months. Dividends payable with respect to the series B preferred are payable to holders of record of shares of series B preferred on the date that is 15 calendar days immediately preceding the applicable dividend payment date or such other record date as our board of directors or any duly authorized committee of the board determines, so long as such record date is not more than 60 nor less than 10 days prior to the applicable dividend payment date.

 

If we determine not to pay any dividend or a full dividend with respect to the series B preferred, we are required to provide written notice to the holders of shares of series B preferred prior to the applicable dividend payment date. Unpaid dividends on the series B preferred will be compounded.

 

We are subject to various regulatory policies and requirements relating to the payment of dividends, including requirements to maintain adequate capital above regulatory minimums. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve Board”) is authorized to determine, under certain circumstances relating to the financial condition of a bank holding company, such as us, that the payment of dividends would be an unsafe or unsound practice and to prohibit payment thereof.

 

Priority of Dividends.  With respect to the payment of dividends and the amounts to be paid upon liquidation, the series B preferred will rank:

 

 

So long as any shares of series B preferred remain outstanding, unless all accrued and unpaid dividends for all prior dividend periods have been paid or are contemporaneously declared and paid in full, no dividend whatsoever shall be paid or declared on our common stock or other junior stock, other than a dividend payable solely in shares of our common stock.

 

In addition, we may not purchase, redeem or otherwise acquire for consideration any shares of our common stock or other junior stock unless we have paid in full all accrued dividends on the series B preferred for all prior dividend periods, other than:

 

 

 

On any dividend payment date for which full dividends are not paid, or declared and funds set aside therefor, on the series B preferred and any other parity stock, all dividends paid or declared for payment on that dividend payment date (or, with respect to parity stock with a different dividend payment date, on the applicable dividend date therefor falling within the dividend period and related to the dividend payment date for the series B preferred), with respect to the series B preferred and any other parity stock shall be declared ratably among the holders of any such shares who have the right to receive dividends, in proportion to the respective amounts of the undeclared and unpaid dividends relating to the dividend period.

 

Subject to the foregoing, such dividends (payable in cash, stock or otherwise) as may be determined by our board of directors may be declared and paid on our common stock and any other stock ranking equally with or junior to the series B preferred from time to time out of any funds legally available for such payment, and the series B preferred shall not be entitled to participate in any such dividends.

 

Redemption.  The series B preferred may not be redeemed prior to February 15, 2012 unless we have received aggregate gross proceeds from one or more qualified equity offerings (as described below) equal to $62,500,000, which equals 25% of the aggregate liquidation amount of the series B preferred on the date of issuance. In such a case, we may redeem the series B preferred, in whole or in part, subject to the approval of the Federal Reserve Board, upon notice as described below, up to a maximum amount equal to the aggregate net cash proceeds received by us from such qualified equity offerings. A “qualified equity offering” is a sale and issuance for cash by us, to persons other than us or our subsidiaries after December 19, 2008, of shares of perpetual preferred stock, common stock or a combination thereof, that in each case qualify as Tier 1 capital at the time of issuance under the applicable risk-based capital guidelines of the Federal Reserve Board. Qualified equity offerings do not include issuances made in connection with acquisitions, issuances of trust preferred securities and issuances of common stock and/or perpetual preferred stock made pursuant to agreements or arrangements entered into, or pursuant to financing plans that were publicly announced, on or prior to December 19, 2008.

 

On or after February 15, 2012, the series B preferred may be redeemed by us at any time, in whole or in part, subject to the approval of the Federal Reserve Board and the notice requirements described below.

 

In any redemption, the redemption price of the series B preferred shall be an amount equal to the per share liquidation amount plus accrued and unpaid dividends to but excluding the date of redemption.

 

The series B preferred will not be subject to any mandatory redemption, sinking fund or similar provisions. Holders of shares of series B preferred have no right to require the redemption or repurchase of their shares of series B preferred.

 

In the case of any redemption of less than all of the shares of series B preferred, the shares to be redeemed will be selected either pro rata or in such other manner as our board of directors may determine to be fair and equitable. Furthermore, if we repurchase shares of series B preferred from a holder other than the initial selling securityholder, we must offer to repurchase a ratable portion of the shares of series B preferred then held by the initial selling securityholder.

 

We will mail notice of any redemption of the series B preferred by first class mail, postage prepaid, addressed to the holders of record of the shares of series B preferred to be redeemed at their respective last addresses appearing on our books. This mailing will be at least 30 days and not more than 60 days before the date fixed for redemption. Any notice mailed or otherwise given as described in this paragraph will be conclusively presumed to have been duly given, whether or not the holder receives the notice, and failure duly to give the notice by mail or otherwise, or any defect in the notice or in the mailing or provision of the notice, to any holder of series B preferred designated for redemption will not affect the redemption of any other shares of series B preferred. Each notice of redemption will set forth the applicable redemption date, the redemption price, the place where shares of series B preferred are to be redeemed, and the number of shares

of series B preferred to be redeemed (and, if less than all shares of series B preferred held by the applicable holder, the number of shares to be redeemed from such holder).

 

Shares of series B preferred that are redeemed, repurchased or otherwise acquired by us will revert to authorized but unissued shares of our preferred stock.

 

Pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, or the ARRA, a financial institution that receives assistance under the United States Department of the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program may repay such assistance without regard to the waiting period and source requirements described above, subject to the requirements that the recipient consult with the appropriate Federal banking agency and that it repay a minimum of 25% of the issue price of the preferred stock. The ARRA further provides that in the event a recipient repays such assistance, the Secretary of the Treasury will liquidate the warrants associated with such assistance at the current market price, which may include a repurchase of the warrants by the issuer. The shares of series B preferred and the warrant sold by Wintrust to the initial selling securityholder are subject to these provisions of the ARRA.

 

Liquidation Rights.  In the event that we voluntarily or involuntarily liquidate, dissolve or winds up our affairs, holders of series B preferred will be entitled to receive an amount per share, referred to as the total liquidation amount, equal to the fixed liquidation preference of $1,000 per share, plus any accrued and unpaid dividends, whether or not declared, to the date of payment. Holders of series B preferred will be entitled to receive the total liquidation amount out of our assets that are available for distribution to stockholders, after payment or provision for payment of our debts and other liabilities but before any distribution of assets is made to holders of our common stock or any other shares ranking, as to that distribution, junior to the series B preferred.

 

If our assets are not sufficient to pay the total liquidation amount in full to all holders of series B preferred and all holders of any shares of outstanding parity stock, the amounts paid to the holders of series B preferred and other shares of parity stock will be paid pro rata in accordance with the respective total liquidation amount for those holders. If the total liquidation amount per share of series B preferred has been paid in full to all holders of series B preferred and other shares of parity stock, the holders of our common stock or any other shares ranking, as to such distribution, junior to series B preferred will be entitled to receive all of our remaining assets according to their respective rights and preferences.

 

For purposes of the liquidation rights, neither the sale, conveyance, exchange or transfer of all or substantially all of our property and assets, nor the consolidation or merger by us with or into, any other corporation or by another corporation with or into us, will constitute a liquidation, dissolution or winding-up of our affairs.

 

Voting Rights.  Except as indicated below or otherwise required by law, holders of series B preferred will not have any voting rights.

 

If dividends on the series B preferred have not been paid for an aggregate of six quarterly dividend periods or more (whether or not consecutive), the authorized number of directors then constituting our board of directors will be automatically increased by two. Holders of series B preferred, together with the holders of any outstanding parity stock with like voting rights (the “Voting Parity Stock”), voting as a single class, will be entitled to elect the two additional members to our board of directors (the “Preferred Stock Directors”), at the next annual meeting (or at a special meeting called for the purpose of electing the Preferred Stock Directors prior to the next annual meeting) and at each subsequent annual meeting until all accrued and unpaid dividends on the series B preferred for all past dividend periods have been paid in full. The election of any Preferred Stock Director is subject to the qualification that his or her election would not cause us to violate the corporate governance requirement of the Nasdaq Stock Market (or any other exchange on which our securities may be listed) that listed companies must have a majority of independent directors.

 

Upon the termination of the right of the holders of series B preferred and Voting Parity Stock to elect Preferred Stock Directors, as described above, the Preferred Stock Directors will immediately cease to be qualified as directors, their term of office shall terminate immediately and the number of authorized directors on our board will be reduced by the number of Preferred Stock Directors that the holders of series B preferred

and Voting Parity Stock had been entitled to elect. The holders of a majority of shares of series B preferred and Voting Parity Stock, voting as a class, may remove any Preferred Stock Director, with or without cause, and the holders of a majority of the shares of series B preferred and Voting Parity Stock, voting as a class, may fill any vacancy created by the removal of a Preferred Stock Director. If the office of a Preferred Stock Director becomes vacant for any other reason, the remaining Preferred Stock Director may choose a successor to fill such vacancy for the remainder of his or her unexpired term.

 

So long as any shares of series B preferred are outstanding, in addition to any other vote or consent of stockholders required by law or by our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as amended, the vote or consent of the holders of at least 662/3% of the shares of series B preferred at the time outstanding, voting separately as a single class, given in person or by proxy, either in writing without a meeting or by vote at any meeting called for the purpose, shall be necessary for effecting or validating:

 

 

The foregoing voting provisions will not apply if, at or prior to the time when the vote or consent would otherwise be required, all outstanding shares of series B preferred have been redeemed or called for redemption upon proper notice and sufficient funds have been set aside by us for the benefit of the holders of series B preferred to effect the redemption.

 

Preferred Stock

 

General.  We may offer shares of any series of preferred stock that we may designate and issue in the future. Under our amended and restated articles of incorporation, as amended, our board of directors has the authority to issue preferred stock in one or more series, and to fix for each series the voting powers and the distinctive designations, preferences and relative, participation, optional or other special rights and such qualifications, limitations or restrictions, as may be stated and expressed in the resolution or resolutions adopted by the board of directors providing for the issuance of such series as may be permitted by the IBCA, including dividend rates, conversion rights, terms of redemption and liquidation preferences and the number of shares constituting each such series, without any further vote or action by our shareholders.

 

Preferred Stock Offered Hereby.  If we offer preferred stock pursuant to this prospectus in the future, the applicable prospectus supplement will describe the terms of such preferred shares, including the following, where applicable:

 

 

 

The description in the prospectus supplement will not necessarily be complete and reference will be made to the certificate of designation relating to a series of preferred shares which will be filed with the SEC.

 

Depositary Shares

 

We may elect to offer fractional preferred shares rather than full preferred shares. If so, we will issue “depositary receipts” for these “depositary shares.” Each depositary share will represent a fraction of a share of a particular series of preferred shares. If we offer depositary shares pursuant to these projections in the future, the applicable prospectus supplement will describe the terms of the depository shares and the underlying preferred shares to which the depositary shares relate.

 

The description in the prospectus supplement will not necessarily be complete, and reference will be made to the deposit agreement relating to the depositary shares which will be filed with the SEC.

 

Exchange Agent and Registrar

 

Illinois Stock Transfer Company is the exchange agent and registrar for our common stock. Unless the applicable prospectus supplement specifies otherwise, the exchange agent and registrar for each series of preferred stock will be Illinois Stock Transfer Company.

 

Certain Provisions That May Have an Anti-Takeover Effect

 

Certain provisions of Wintrust’s articles of incorporation, by-laws and the IBCA may have the effect of impeding the acquisition of control of Wintrust by means of a tender offer, a proxy fight, open-market purchases or otherwise in a transaction not approved by Wintrust’s board of directors.

 

These provisions may have the effect of discouraging a future takeover attempt which is not approved by Wintrust’s board of directors but which individual Wintrust shareholders may deem to be in their best interests or in which Wintrust shareholders may receive a substantial premium for their shares over then-current market prices. As a result, shareholders who might desire to participate in such a transaction may not have an opportunity to do so. Such provisions will also render the removal of Wintrust’s current board of directors or management more difficult.

 

These provisions of Wintrust’s articles of incorporation and by-laws include the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The provisions described above are intended to reduce our vulnerability to takeover attempts and certain other transactions which have not been negotiated with and approved by members of our board of directors.

 

Additionally, the Change in Bank Control Act of 1978 prohibits a person or group of persons from acquiring “control” of a bank holding company unless:

 

 

An acquisition may be made prior to the expiration of the disapproval period if the Federal Reserve issues written notice of its intent not to disapprove the action. Under a rebuttable presumption established by the Federal Reserve, the acquisition of more than 10% of a class of voting stock of a bank holding company with a class of securities registered under Section 12 of the Exchange Act, such as Wintrust, would, under the circumstances set forth in the presumption, constitute the acquisition of control. The receipt of revocable proxies, provided the proxies terminate within a reasonable time after the meeting to which they relate, is not included in determining percentages for change in control purposes.

 

We may issue stock purchase contracts, including contracts obligating holders to purchase from us, and us to sell to the holders, a specified number of common shares at a future date or dates, which we refer to in this Prospectus as “Stock Purchase Contracts.” The price per common share and number of common shares may be fixed at the time the Stock Purchase Contracts are issued or may be determined by reference to a specific formula set forth in the Stock Purchase Contracts. The Stock Purchase Contracts may be issued separately or as a part of units consisting of a Stock Purchase Contract and our debt securities or debt obligations of third parties, including U.S. Treasury securities, securing the holders’ obligations to purchase the common shares under the Stock Purchase Contracts, which we refer to in this Prospectus as “Stock Purchase Units.” The Stock Purchase Contracts may require holders to secure their obligations thereunder in a specified manner. The Stock Purchase Contracts also may require us to make periodic payments to the holders of the Stock Purchase Units or vice-versa and such payments may be unsecured or prefunded on some basis.

 

The applicable prospectus supplement will describe the terms of any Stock Purchase Contracts or Stock Purchase Units. The description in the prospectus supplement will not necessarily be complete, and reference will be made to the Stock Purchase Contracts, and, if applicable, collateral or depositary arrangements, relating to the Stock Purchase Contracts or Stock Purchase Units. Material United States federal income tax considerations applicable to the Stock Purchase Units and the Stock Purchase Contracts will also be discussed in the applicable prospectus supplement.

 

We may issue warrants to purchase debt securities, common shares, or preferred shares. We may issue warrants independently or together with other securities. Warrants sold with other securities may be attached to or separate from the other securities. We will issue warrants under one or more warrant agreements between us and a warrant agent that we will name in the prospectus supplement.

 

The prospectus supplement relating to any warrants we are offering will include specific terms relating to the offering. These terms will include some or all of the following:

 

 

 

The description in the prospectus supplement will not necessarily be complete, and reference will be made to the warrant agreements which will be filed with the SEC.

 

The following is a brief description of the terms of the warrant that may be resold by the selling securityholders. This summary does not purport to be complete in all respects. This description is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by reference to, the warrant, a copy of which was filed by us with the SEC as an exhibit to our Current Report of Form 8-K, dated December 24, 2008.

 

Common Shares Subject to the Warrant

 

The warrant is initially exercisable into up to 1,643,295 of our common shares. If we complete one or more qualified equity offerings on or prior to December 31, 2009 that result in our receipt of aggregate gross proceeds of not less than $250,000,000, which is equal to 100% of the aggregate liquidation preference of the series B preferred, the number of shares of common stock underlying the warrant then held by the selling securityholders will be reduced by 50%. The number of shares subject to the warrant are subject to the further adjustments described below under the heading “Adjustments to the Warrant.”

 

If we elect to repay the investment received from the sale of the series B preferred and the warrant to the United States Department of Treasury in accordance with the ARRA, the initial selling securityholder will liquidate the warrant at the then-current market price.

 

Exercise of the Warrant

 

The initial exercise price applicable to the warrant is $22.82 per share of common stock for which the warrant may be exercised. The warrant may be exercised at any time on or before December 19, 2018 by surrender of the warrant and a completed notice of exercise attached as an annex to the warrant and the payment of the exercise price for the shares of common stock for which the warrant is being exercised. The exercise price may be paid either by the withholding by us of such number of shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrant equal to the value of the aggregate exercise price of the warrant determined by reference to the market price of our common stock on the trading day on which the warrant is exercised or, if agreed to by us and the warrantholder, by the payment of cash equal to the aggregate exercise price. The exercise price applicable to the warrant is subject to further adjustments described below under the heading “Adjustments to the Warrant.”

 

Upon exercise of the warrant, certificates for the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise will be issued to the warrantholder. We will not issue fractional shares upon any exercise of the warrant. Instead, the warrantholder will be entitled to a cash payment equal to the market price of our common stock on the last day preceding the exercise of the warrant (less the pro-rated exercise price of the warrant) for any fractional

shares that would have otherwise been issuable upon exercise of the warrant. We will at all times reserve the aggregate number of shares of our common stock for which the warrant may be exercised.

 

Rights as a Stockholder

 

The warrantholders shall have no rights or privileges of the holders of our common stock, including any voting rights, until (and then only to the extent) the warrant has been exercised. The initial selling securityholder has agreed not to exercise any voting rights with respect to any shares of our common stock issued upon exercise of the warrant.

 

Transferability

 

The initial selling securityholder may not transfer a portion of the warrant with respect to more than one half of the number of shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrant until the earlier of the date on which we have received aggregate gross proceeds from a qualified equity offering of at least $250,000,000 and December 31, 2009. The warrant, and all rights under the warrant, are otherwise transferable.

 

Adjustments to the Warrant

 

The number of shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrant (the “warrant shares”) and the warrant exercise price will be adjusted upon occurrence of certain events as follows:

 

In the case of stock splits, subdivisions, reclassifications or combinations of common stock.  The number of warrant shares and the exercise price for the warrant will be proportionately adjusted in the event we pay dividends or make distributions of our common stock, or subdivide, combine or reclassify shares of our common stock.

 

In the case of issuance of common stock (and convertible securities) for less than 90% of the market price of our common stock on the last trading day preceding the date of the agreement on pricing such shares.  Until the earlier of (i) the date on which the initial selling securityholder no longer holds the warrant or any portion thereof and (ii) December 19, 2011, if we issue shares of our common stock (or securities convertible or exercisable into shares of our common stock) for less than 90% of the market price of our common stock on the last trading day prior to pricing such shares, the number of warrant shares and the exercise price for the warrant will be proportionately adjusted. Adjustments will not be made if shares are issued as part of merger consideration, benefit or compensation plans, a registered or Rule 144A offering, or preemptive rights existing as of December 19, 2008.

 

Other Distributions.  In the event we make a distribution of securities, evidences of indebtedness, assets, cash, rights or warrants to holders of our common stock, the exercise price of the warrant and the number of warrant shares will be proportionately adjusted.

 

In the case of a pro rata repurchase of common stock.  A “pro rata repurchase” is defined as any repurchase of shares of our common stock by us pursuant to any tender offer or exchange offer subject to Section 13(e) or 14(e) of the Exchange Act, or Regulation 14E thereunder or any other offer available to substantially all holders of our common stock. In any such transaction, the exercise price of the warrant and the number of warrant shares will be proportionately adjusted.

 

In the case of a merger, consolidation, statutory share exchange, reclassification of our common stock or similar transaction that requires the approval of our stockholders (any such transaction, a “business combination”).  In the event of a business combination, the warrantholder’s right to receive the warrant shares will be converted into the right to exercise the warrant to acquire the number of shares of stock or other securities which the warrantholder would have been entitled to receive upon consummation of the business combination if the warrantholder had exercised the warrant prior to such business combination.

 

Wintrust Capital Trust VI is a Delaware statutory trust formed pursuant to the Delaware Statutory Trust Act under a trust agreement executed by us, as sponsor for the trust, and the trustees, and a certificate of trust has been filed with the Delaware Secretary of State. The trust agreement will be amended and restated in its entirety in the form filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, as of the date the trust preferred securities are initially issued. The trust agreement will be qualified under the Trust Indenture Act of 1939.

 

The following discussion contains a description of the material terms of the trust agreement for the trust and is subject to, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to, the amended and restated trust agreement.

 

The holders of the trust preferred securities issued pursuant to an offering described in this prospectus and subsequent prospectus supplements will own all of the issued and outstanding trust preferred securities of the trust which have certain prior rights over the other securities of the trust in certain circumstances as specified in this prospectus. We will not initially own any of the trust preferred securities. We will initially own, directly or indirectly, all of the issued and outstanding common securities. The common securities, together with the trust preferred securities, are called the trust securities.

 

The trust exists exclusively for the purposes of:

 

 

The trust will not have any independent business operations or any assets, revenues or cash flows other than those related to the issuance and administration of the trust securities.

 

The rights of the holders of the trust securities are as set forth in the trust agreement, the Delaware Statutory Trust Act and the Trust Indenture Act. The trust agreement does not permit the trust to borrow money or make any investment other than in the debentures. Other than with respect to payment of distributions on and the liquidation amount of the trust securities, Wintrust has agreed to pay for all debts and obligations and all costs and expenses of the trust, including the fees and expenses of the trustees and any income taxes, duties and other governmental charges, and all costs and expenses related to these charges, to which the trust may become subject, except for United States withholding taxes that are properly withheld.

 

The number of trustees of the trust will initially be five. Three of the trustees will be persons who are employees or officers of or who are affiliated with Wintrust. They are the administrative trustees. The fourth trustee will be an entity that maintains its principal place of business in the State of Delaware. It is the Delaware trustee. Initially, Wilmington Trust Company, a Delaware banking corporation, will act as Delaware trustee. The fifth trustee, called the property trustee, will also initially be Wilmington Trust Company. The property trustee is the institutional trustee under the trust agreement and acts as the indenture trustee called for under the applicable provisions of the Trust Indenture Act. Also for purposes of compliance with the Trust Indenture Act, Wilmington Trust Company will act as guarantee trustee and indenture trustee under the guarantee agreement and the indenture. We, as holder of all of the common securities, will have the right to appoint or remove any trustee unless an event of default under the indenture has occurred and is continuing, in which case only the holders of the trust preferred securities may remove the Delaware trustee or the property trustee. The trust has a term of approximately 31 years but may terminate earlier as provided in the trust agreement.

 

The property trustee will hold the debentures for the benefit of the holders of the trust securities and will have the power to exercise all rights, powers and privileges under the indenture as the holder of the debentures. In addition, the property trustee will maintain exclusive control of a segregated noninterest-bearing

“payment account” established with Wilmington Trust Company to hold all payments made on the debentures for the benefit of the holders of the trust securities. The property trustee will make payments of distributions and payments on liquidation, redemption and otherwise to the holders of the trust securities out of funds from the payment account. The guarantee trustee will hold the guarantee for the benefit of the holders of the trust preferred securities. We will pay all fees and expenses related to the trust and the offering of the trust preferred securities, including the fees and expenses of the trustees.

 

The trust will issue only one series of trust preferred securities and one series of common securities. The trust agreement for the trust will be qualified as an indenture under the Trust Indenture Act of 1939. The trust preferred securities will have terms and will be subject to conditions as set forth in the trust agreement or made a part of the trust agreement by the Trust Indenture Act. This summary of certain provisions of the trust preferred securities and each trust agreement does not purport to be complete and is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by reference to, all the provisions of each trust agreement, including the definitions of certain terms, and those provisions made part of each trust agreement by the Trust Indenture Act. A form of the trust agreement to be used in connection with the issuance of the trust preferred securities and a form of the trust preferred securities are filed as exhibits to the registration statement that includes this prospectus. Wherever particular defined terms of a trust agreement are referred to in this prospectus, those defined terms are incorporated in this prospectus by reference. A copy of the form of the trust agreement is available upon request from the property trustee.

 

General

 

The trust agreement authorizes the administrative trustees, on behalf of the trust, to issue the trust securities, which are comprised of the trust preferred securities to be sold to the public and the common securities. We will own all of the common securities issued by the trust. The trust is not permitted to issue any securities other than the trust securities or incur any other indebtedness.

 

The trust preferred securities will represent preferred undivided beneficial interests in the assets of the trust, and the holders of the trust preferred securities will be entitled to a preference over the common securities upon an event of default with respect to distributions and amounts payable on redemption or liquidation. The trust preferred securities will rank equally, and payments on the trust preferred securities will be made proportionally, with the common securities, except as described under “— Subordination of Common Securities.”

 

The property trustee will hold legal title to the debentures in trust for the benefit of the holders of the trust securities. We will guarantee the payment of distributions out of money held by the trust, and payments upon redemption of the trust preferred securities or liquidation of the trust, to the extent described under “Description of the Guarantee.” The guarantee agreement does not cover the payment of any distribution or the liquidation amount when the trust does not have sufficient funds available to make these payments.

 

The specific terms of the trust preferred securities offered by the trust will be described in a prospectus supplement, including:

 

 

 

If indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement, the terms of the trust agreement for, and capital securities offered by, the trust may differ from the terms summarized in this prospectus.

 

Distributions

 

Source of Distributions.  The funds of the trust available for distribution to holders of the trust preferred securities will be limited to payments made under the debentures, which the trust will purchase with the proceeds from the sale of the trust securities.

 

Distributions will be paid through the property trustee, which will hold the amounts received from our interest payments on the debentures in the payment account for the benefit of the holders of the trust securities. If we do not make interest payments on the debentures, the property trustee will not have funds available to pay distributions on the trust preferred securities.

 

Distributions will accumulate from the date of issuance, will be cumulative and will be computed on the basis of a 360-day year of twelve 30-day months. If the distribution date is not a business day, then payment of the distributions will be made on the next day that is a business day, without any additional interest or other payment for the delay. However, if the next business day is in the next calendar year, payment of the distribution will be made on the business day immediately preceding the scheduled distribution date.

 

Extension Period.  As long as no event of default under the indenture has occurred and is continuing, we have the right to defer the payment of interest on the debentures at any time for a period not exceeding 20 consecutive quarters. We refer to this period of deferral as an “extension period.” No extension period may extend beyond the maturity date or end on a date other than an interest payment date, which dates are the same as the distribution dates. If we defer the payment of interest, quarterly distributions on the trust preferred securities will also be deferred during any such extension period. Any deferred distributions under the trust preferred securities will accumulate additional amounts at an annual rate compounded quarterly from the relevant distribution date. The term “distributions” as used in this prospectus includes those accumulated amounts.

 

During an extension period, we may not:

 

 

After the termination of any extension period and the payment of all amounts due, we may elect to begin a new extension period, subject to the above requirements.

 

We do not currently intend to exercise our right to defer distributions on the trust preferred securities by deferring the payment of interest on the debentures.

 

Redemption or Exchange

 

General.  Subject to the prior approval of the Federal Reserve, if required, we will have the right to redeem the debentures:

 

 

Mandatory Redemption.  Upon our repayment or redemption, in whole or in part, of any debentures, whether on the date set forth in the applicable prospectus supplement or earlier, the property trustee will apply the proceeds to redeem the same amount of the trust securities, upon not less than 30 days’ nor more than 60 days’ notice, at the redemption price. The redemption price will equal 100% of the aggregate liquidation amount of the trust securities plus accumulated but unpaid distributions to the date of redemption. If less than all of the debentures are to be repaid or redeemed on a date of redemption, then the proceeds from such repayment or redemption will be allocated to redemption of trust preferred securities and common securities proportionately.

 

Distribution of Debentures in Exchange for Trust Preferred Securities.  Upon prior approval of the Federal Reserve, if required by law or regulation, we will have the right at any time to dissolve, wind-up or terminate the trust and, after satisfaction of the liabilities of creditors of the trust as provided by applicable law, including, without limitation, amounts due and owing the trustees of the trust, cause the debentures to be distributed directly to the holders of trust securities in liquidation of the trust. See “— Liquidation Distribution upon Termination.”

 

After the liquidation date fixed for any distribution of debentures in exchange for trust preferred securities:

 

 

We cannot assure you that the market prices for the trust preferred securities or the debentures that may be distributed if a dissolution and liquidation of the trust were to occur would be favorable. The trust preferred securities that an investor may purchase, or the debentures that an investor may receive on dissolution and liquidation of the trust, may trade at a discount to the price that the investor paid to purchase the trust preferred securities.

Redemption upon a Tax Event, Investment Company Event or Capital Treatment Event.  Subject to the receipt of approval from the Federal Reserve, if a Tax Event, an Investment Company Event or a Capital Treatment Event occurs, we will have the right to redeem the debentures in whole, but not in part, and thereby cause a mandatory redemption of all of the trust securities at the redemption price described above. If one of these events occurs and we do not elect to redeem the debentures, or to dissolve the trust and cause the debentures to be distributed to holders of the trust securities, then the trust preferred securities will remain outstanding and additional interest may be payable on the debentures.

 

“Tax Event” means the receipt by the trust and us of an opinion of counsel experienced in such matters stating that, as a result of any change or prospective change in the laws or regulations of the United States or any political subdivision or taxing authority of the United States, or as a result of any official administrative pronouncement or judicial decision interpreting or applying the tax laws or regulations, there is more than an insubstantial risk that:

 

 

“Investment Company Event” means the receipt by the trust and us of an opinion of counsel experienced in such matters to the effect that there is more than an insubstantial risk that the trust is or will be considered an “investment company” that is required to be registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as a result of a change in law or regulation or a change in interpretation or application of law or regulation.

 

“Capital Treatment Event” means the receipt by the trust and us of an opinion of counsel experienced in such matters to the effect that there is more than an insubstantial risk of impairment of our ability to treat the trust preferred securities as Tier 1 capital for purposes of the current capital adequacy guidelines of the Federal Reserve, as a result of any amendment to any laws or any regulations.

 

For all of the events described above, we or the trust must request and receive an opinion with regard to the event within a reasonable period of time after we become aware of the possible occurrence of an event of this kind.

 

Redemption of Debentures in Exchange for Trust Preferred Securities We Purchase.  Upon prior approval of the Federal Reserve, if required by law or regulation, we will also have the right at any time, and from time to time, to redeem debentures in exchange for any trust preferred securities we may have purchased in the market. If we elect to surrender any trust preferred securities beneficially owned by us in exchange for redemption of a like amount of debentures, we will also surrender a proportionate amount of common securities in exchange for debentures. Trust preferred securities owned by other holders will not be called for redemption at any time when we elect to exchange trust securities we own for debentures.

 

The common securities we surrender will be in the same proportion to the trust preferred securities we surrender as is the ratio of common securities purchased by us to the trust preferred securities issued by the trust. In exchange for the trust securities surrendered by us, the property trustee will cause to be released to us for cancellation debentures with a principal amount equal to the liquidation amount of the trust securities, plus any accumulated but unpaid distributions, if any, then held by the property trustee allocable to those trust securities. After the date of redemption involving an exchange by us, the trust securities we surrender will no longer be deemed outstanding and the debentures redeemed in exchange will be cancelled.

 

Redemption Procedures

 

Trust preferred securities will be redeemed at the redemption price with the applicable proceeds from our contemporaneous redemption of the debentures. Redemptions of the trust preferred securities will be made, and the redemption price will be payable, on each redemption date only to the extent that the trust has funds available for the payment of the redemption price.

Notice of any redemption will be mailed at least 30 days but not more than 60 days before the date of redemption to each holder of trust securities to be redeemed at its registered address. Unless we default in payment of the redemption price on the debentures, interest will cease to accumulate on the debentures called for redemption on and after the date of redemption.

 

If the trust gives notice of redemption of its trust securities, then the property trustee, to the extent funds are available, will irrevocably deposit with the depositary for the trust securities funds sufficient to pay the aggregate redemption price and will give the depositary for the trust securities irrevocable instructions and authority to pay the redemption price to the holders of the trust securities. If the trust preferred securities are no longer in book-entry only form, the property trustee, to the extent funds are available, will deposit with the designated paying agent for such trust preferred securities funds sufficient to pay the aggregate redemption price and will give the paying agent irrevocable instructions and authority to pay the redemption price to the holders upon surrender of their certificates evidencing the trust preferred securities. Notwithstanding the foregoing, distributions payable on or prior to the date of redemption for any trust securities called for redemption will be payable to the holders of the trust securities on the relevant record dates for the related distribution dates.

 

If notice of redemption has been given and we have deposited funds as required, then on the date of the deposit all rights of the holders of the trust securities called for redemption will cease, except the right to receive the redemption price, but without interest on such redemption price after the date of redemption. The trust securities will also cease to be outstanding on the date of the deposit. If any date fixed for redemption of trust securities is not a business day, then payment of the redemption price payable on that date will be made on the next day that is a business day without any additional interest or other payment in respect of the delay. However, if the next business day is in the next succeeding calendar year, payment of the interest will be made on the immediately preceding business day.

 

If payment of the redemption price in respect of trust securities called for redemption is improperly withheld or refused and not paid by the trust, or by us pursuant to the guarantee, distributions on the trust securities will continue to accumulate at the applicable rate from the date of redemption originally established by the trust for the trust securities to the date the redemption price is actually paid. In this case, the actual payment date will be considered the date fixed for redemption for purposes of calculating the redemption price.

 

Payment of the redemption price on the trust preferred securities will be made to the applicable recordholders as they appear on the register for the trust preferred securities on the relevant record date, which will be the date 15 days prior to the relevant redemption date.

 

If less than all of the trust securities are to be redeemed, then the aggregate liquidation amount of the trust securities to be redeemed will be allocated proportionately to those trust securities based upon the relative liquidation amounts. The particular trust preferred securities to be redeemed will be selected by the property trustee from the outstanding trust preferred securities not previously called for redemption by a method the property trustee deems fair and appropriate. The property trustee will promptly notify the registrar for the trust preferred securities in writing of the trust preferred securities selected for redemption and, in the case of any trust preferred securities selected for partial redemption, the liquidation amount to be redeemed. If the redemption relates to trust preferred securities purchased by us and being exchanged for a like amount of debentures, then the trust preferred securities we own will be the ones selected for redemption.

 

Subject to applicable law, if we are exercising our right to defer interest payments on the debentures or an event of default under the indenture for the debentures shall have occurred and be continuing, we may not, at any time, purchase outstanding trust preferred securities.

 

Subordination of Common Securities

 

Payment of distributions on, and the redemption price of, the trust preferred securities and common securities will be made based on the liquidation amount of these securities. However, if an event of default under the indenture has occurred and is continuing, no distributions on or redemption of the common securities may be made unless payment in full in cash of all accumulated and unpaid distributions on all of the outstanding trust preferred securities for all distribution periods terminating on or before that time, or in the

case of payment of the redemption price, payment of the full amount of the redemption price on all of the outstanding trust preferred securities then called for redemption, has been made or provided for. All funds available to the property trustee will first be applied to the payment in full in cash of all distributions on, or the redemption price of, the trust preferred securities then due and payable.

 

In the case of the occurrence and continuance of any event of default under the trust agreement resulting from an event of default under the indenture, we, as holder of the common securities, will be deemed to have waived any right to act with respect to that event of default under the trust agreement until the effect of the event of default has been cured, waived or otherwise eliminated. Until the event of default under the trust agreement has been so cured, waived or otherwise eliminated, the property trustee will act solely on behalf of the holders of the trust preferred securities and not on our behalf, and only the holders of the trust preferred securities will have the right to direct the property trustee to act on their behalf.

 

Liquidation Distribution upon Termination

 

We will have the right at any time to dissolve, wind-up or terminate the trust and cause debentures to be distributed to the holders of the trust preferred securities. This right is subject, however, to us receiving approval of the Federal Reserve, if required by law or regulation.

 

In addition, the trust will automatically terminate upon expiration of its term and will terminate earlier on the first to occur of:

 

 

With the exception of a redemption as described under “— Redemption or Exchange — Mandatory Redemption,” if an early termination of the trust occurs, the trust will be liquidated by the trustees as expeditiously as they determine to be possible. After satisfaction of liabilities to creditors of the trust as provided by applicable law, the trustees will distribute to the holders of trust securities, debentures having a principal amount equal to the liquidation amount of the trust securities of the holder to whom such debentures are distributed, with accrued and unpaid interest in an amount equal to the accrued and unpaid interest then due on such debentures.

 

However, if the property trustee determines that the distribution is not practical, then the holders of trust securities will be entitled to receive, instead of debentures, a proportionate amount of the liquidation distribution. The liquidation distribution will be the amount equal to the aggregate of the liquidation amount plus accumulated and unpaid distributions to the date of payment. If the liquidation distribution can be paid only in part because the trust has insufficient assets available to pay in full the aggregate liquidation distribution, then the amounts payable directly by the trust on the trust securities will be paid on a proportional basis, based on liquidation amounts, to us, as the holder of the common securities, and to the holders of the trust preferred securities. However, if an event of default under the indenture has occurred and is continuing, the trust preferred securities will have a priority over the common securities. See “— Subordination of Common Securities.”

 

Under current United States federal income tax law and interpretations and assuming that the trust is treated as a grantor trust, as is expected, a distribution of the debentures should not be a taxable event to holders of the trust preferred securities. Should there be a change in law, a change in legal interpretation, a Tax Event or another circumstance, however, the distribution could be a taxable event to holders of the trust preferred securities. The applicable prospectus supplement will contain a detailed description of these tax consequences.

If we do not elect to redeem the debentures prior to maturity or to liquidate the trust and distribute the debentures to holders of the trust preferred securities, the trust preferred securities will remain outstanding until the repayment of the debentures. If we elect to dissolve the trust and thus cause the debentures to be distributed to holders of the trust securities in liquidation of the trust, we will continue to have the right to shorten the maturity of the debentures.

 

Events of Default; Notice

 

Any one of the following events constitutes an event of default under the trust agreement with respect to the trust preferred securities:

 

 

Within five business days after the occurrence of any event of default actually known to the property trustee, the property trustee will transmit notice of the event of default to the holders of the trust preferred securities, the administrative trustees and to us, unless the event of default has been cured or waived. Wintrust and the administrative trustees are required to file annually with the property trustee a certificate as to whether or not they are in compliance with all the conditions and covenants applicable to them under the trust agreement.

 

If an event of default under the indenture has occurred and is continuing, the trust preferred securities will have preference over the common securities upon termination of the trust. The existence of an event of default under the trust agreement does not entitle the holders of trust preferred securities to accelerate the maturity thereof, unless the event of default is caused by the occurrence of an event of default under the indenture and both the indenture trustee and holders of at least 25% in principal amount of the debentures fail to accelerate the maturity thereof.

 

Removal of the Trustees

 

Unless an event of default under the indenture has occurred and is continuing, we may remove any trustee at any time. If an event of default under the indenture has occurred and is continuing, only the holders of a majority in liquidation amount of the outstanding trust preferred securities may remove the property trustee or the Delaware trustee. The holders of the trust preferred securities have no right to vote to appoint, remove or replace the administrative trustees. These rights are vested exclusively with us as the holder of the common securities. No resignation or removal of a trustee and no appointment of a successor trustee will be effective until the successor trustee accepts the appointment in accordance with the trust agreement.

 

Co-Trustees and Separate Property Trustee

 

Unless an event of default under the indenture has occurred and is continuing, for the purpose of meeting the legal requirements of the Trust Indenture Act or of any jurisdiction in which any part of the trust property

may at the time be located, we will have the power to appoint at any time or times, and upon written request of the property trustee will appoint, one or more persons or entities either (1) to act as a co-trustee, jointly with the property trustee, of all or any part of the trust property, or (2) to act as separate trustee of any trust property. In either case these trustees will have the powers that may be provided in the instrument of appointment, and will have vested in them any property, title, right or power deemed necessary or desirable, subject to the provisions of the trust agreement. In case an event of default under the indenture has occurred and is continuing, the property trustee alone will have power to make the appointment.

 

Merger or Consolidation of Trustees

 

Generally, any person or successor to any of the trustees may be a successor trustee to any of the trustees, including a successor resulting from a merger or consolidation. However, any successor trustee must meet all of the qualifications and eligibility standards to act as a trustee.

 

Mergers, Consolidations, Amalgamations or Replacements of the Trust

 

The trust may not merge with or into, convert into, consolidate, amalgamate, or be replaced by, or convey, transfer or lease its properties and assets substantially as an entirety to any corporation or other person, except as described below. For these purposes, if we consolidate or merge with another entity, or transfer or sell substantially all of our assets to another entity, in some cases that transaction may be considered to involve a replacement of the trust, and the conditions set forth below would apply to such transaction. The trust may, at our request, with the consent of the administrative trustees and without the consent of the holders of the trust preferred securities, the property trustee or the Delaware trustee, undertake a transaction listed above if the following conditions are met:

 

 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the trust may not, except with the consent of every holder of the trust preferred securities, enter into any transaction of this kind if the transaction would cause the trust or the successor entity not to be classified as a grantor trust for federal income tax purposes.

Voting Rights; Amendment to Trust Agreement

 

Except as described below and under “Description of the Guarantee — Amendments” and as otherwise required by the Trust Indenture Act and the trust agreement, the holders of the trust preferred securities will have no voting rights.

 

The trust agreement may be amended from time to time by us and the trustees, without the consent of the holders of the trust preferred securities, in the following circumstances:

 

 

With the consent of the holders of a majority of the aggregate liquidation amount of the outstanding trust securities, we and the trustees may amend the trust agreement if the trustees receive an opinion of counsel to the effect that the amendment or the exercise of any power granted to the trustees in accordance with the amendment will not affect the trust’s status as a grantor trust for federal income tax purposes or the trust’s exemption from status as an “investment company” under the Investment Company Act. However, without the consent of each affected holder of trust securities, the trust agreement may not be amended to (a) change the amount or timing of any distribution on the trust securities or otherwise adversely affect the amount of any distribution required to be made in respect of the trust securities as of a specified date, or (b) restrict the right of a holder of trust securities to institute suit for the enforcement of the payment on or after that date.

 

As long as the property trustee holds any debentures, the trustees will not, without obtaining the prior approval of the holders of a majority in aggregate liquidation amount of all outstanding trust preferred securities:

 

 

The trustees may not revoke any action previously authorized or approved by a vote of the holders of the trust preferred securities except by subsequent vote of the holders of the trust preferred securities. The property

trustee will notify each holder of trust preferred securities of any notice of default with respect to the debentures. In addition to obtaining the foregoing approvals of the holders of the trust preferred securities, prior to taking any of the foregoing actions, the trustees must obtain an opinion of counsel experienced in these matters to the effect that the trust shall continue to be classified as a grantor trust and not as an association taxable as a corporation for federal income tax purposes.

 

Any required approval of holders of trust securities may be given at a meeting or by written consent. The property trustee will cause a notice of any meeting at which holders of the trust securities are entitled to vote, or of any matter upon which action by written consent of the holders is to be taken, to be given to each holder of record of trust securities.

 

No vote or consent of the holders of trust preferred securities will be required for the trust to redeem and cancel its trust preferred securities in accordance with the trust agreement.

 

Notwithstanding the fact that holders of trust preferred securities are entitled to vote or consent under any of the circumstances described above, any of the trust preferred securities that are owned by Wintrust, the trustees or any affiliate of Wintrust or any trustee, will, for purposes of the vote or consent, be treated as if they were not outstanding.

 

Payment and Paying Agency

 

Payments in respect of the trust preferred securities will be made to The Depository Trust Company, or DTC, which will credit the relevant accounts of participants on the applicable distribution dates, or, if any of the trust preferred securities are not held by DTC, the payments will be made by check mailed to the address of the holder as listed on the register of holders of the trust preferred securities. The paying agent for the trust preferred securities will initially be the property trustee and any co-paying agent chosen by the property trustee and acceptable to us and the administrative trustees. The paying agent for the trust preferred securities may resign as paying agent upon 30 days’ written notice to the administrative trustees, the property trustee and us. If the property trustee no longer is the paying agent for the trust preferred securities, the administrative trustees will appoint a successor to act as paying agent. The successor must be a bank or trust company acceptable to us and the property trustee.

 

Register and Transfer Agent

 

The property trustee will act as the registrar and the transfer agent for the trust preferred securities. Registration of transfers of trust preferred securities will be effected without charge by or on behalf of the trust, but upon payment of any tax or other governmental charges that may be imposed in connection with any transfer or exchange. The trust and its registrar and transfer agent will not be required to register or cause to be registered the transfer of trust preferred securities after they have been called for redemption.

 

Information Concerning the Property Trustee

 

The property trustee undertakes to perform only the duties set forth in the trust agreement. After the occurrence of an event of default that is continuing, the property trustee must exercise the same degree of care and skill as a prudent person exercises or uses in the conduct of its own affairs. The property trustee is under no obligation to exercise any of the powers vested in it by the trust agreement at the request of any holder of trust preferred securities unless it is offered reasonable indemnity against the costs, expenses and liabilities that might be incurred. If no event of default under the trust agreement has occurred and is continuing and the property trustee is required to decide between alternative causes of action, construe ambiguous or inconsistent provisions in the trust agreement or is unsure of the application of any provision of the trust agreement, and the matter is not one on which holders of trust preferred securities are entitled to vote upon, then the property trustee will take the action directed in writing by us. If the property trustee is not so directed, then it will take the action it deems advisable and in the best interests of the holders of the trust securities and will have no liability except for its own bad faith, negligence or willful misconduct.

Miscellaneous

 

The administrative trustees are authorized and directed to conduct the affairs of and to operate the trust in such a way that:

 

 

In this regard, we and the administrative trustees are authorized to take any action not inconsistent with applicable law, the certificate of trust or the trust agreement, that we and the administrative trustees determine to be necessary or desirable for these purposes.

 

Holders of the trust preferred securities have no preemptive or similar rights. The trust agreement and the trust securities will be governed by Delaware law.

 

Concurrently with the issuance of the trust preferred securities, the trust will invest the proceeds from the sale of the trust preferred securities in the debentures issued by us. The debentures will be issued as unsecured debt under the indenture between us and an indenture trustee. The indenture will be qualified under the Trust Indenture Act. When used in this section, indenture refers only to the indenture for the junior subordinated debentures of Wintrust, and not the indenture for the debt securities of Wintrust.

 

The following discussion contains a description of the material provisions of the indenture and is subject to, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to, the indenture and to the Trust Indenture Act. We urge prospective investors to read the form of the indenture, which is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. If indicated in the prospectus supplement, the terms of any series may differ from the terms summarized below.

 

General

 

The debentures will be unsecured and will rank junior to all of our senior and subordinated debt, including indebtedness we may incur in the future. Because we are a holding company, our right to participate in any distribution of assets of any of our subsidiaries, upon any subsidiary’s liquidation or reorganization or otherwise, and thus the ability of holders of the debentures to benefit indirectly from any distribution by a subsidiary, is subject to the prior claim of creditors of the subsidiary, except to the extent that we may be recognized as a creditor of the subsidiary. The debentures will, therefore, be effectively subordinated to all existing and future liabilities of our subsidiaries, and holders of debentures should look only to our assets for payment. Except as otherwise provided in the applicable prospectus supplement, the indenture does not limit our ability to incur or issue secured or unsecured senior and junior debt. See “— Subordination” and “— Miscellaneous.”

 

The indenture does not contain provisions that afford holders of the debentures protection in the event of a highly leveraged transaction or other similar transaction involving us, nor does it require us to maintain or achieve any financial performance levels or to obtain or maintain any credit rating on the debentures.

 

The applicable prospectus supplement will contain, where applicable, the following terms of and other information relating to any offered junior subordinated debentures:

 

 

 

Registration and Transfer of Junior Subordinated Debentures

 

Holders may present junior subordinated debentures for exchange, and holders of registered junior subordinated debentures may present these securities for transfer, in the manner, at the places and subject to the restrictions stated in the junior subordinated debentures and described in the applicable prospectus supplement. We will provide these services without charge except for any tax or other governmental charge payable in connection with these services and subject to any limitations provided in the indenture.

 

Holders may transfer junior subordinated debentures in bearer form and the related coupons, if any, by delivery to the transferee. If any of the securities are held in global form, the procedures for transfer of interests in those securities will depend upon the procedures of the depositary for those global securities.

 

Subordination

 

The debentures are subordinated and junior in right of payment to all of our senior and subordinated debt, as defined in the applicable prospectus supplement. Upon any payment or distribution of assets to creditors upon any liquidation, dissolution, winding up or reorganization of Wintrust, whether voluntary or involuntary in bankruptcy, insolvency, receivership or other proceedings in connection with any insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings, the holders of our senior and subordinated debt will first be entitled to receive payment in full of principal and interest before the holders of debentures will be entitled to receive or retain any payment in respect of the debentures.

 

If the maturity of any debentures is accelerated, the holders of all of our senior and subordinated debt outstanding at the time of the acceleration will also be entitled to first receive payment in full of all amounts due to them, including any amounts due upon acceleration, before the holders of the debentures will be entitled to receive or retain any principal or interest payments on the debentures.

 

No payments of principal or interest on the debentures may be made if there has occurred and is continuing a default in any payment with respect to any of our senior or subordinated debt or an event of default with respect to any of our senior or subordinated debt resulting in the acceleration of the maturity of the senior or subordinated debt, or if any judicial proceeding is pending with respect to any default.

 

Payment and Paying Agent

 

Generally, payment of principal of and interest on the debentures will be made at the office of the indenture trustee. However, we have the option to make payment of any interest by (a) check mailed to the address of the person entitled to payment at the address listed in the register of holders of the debentures, or (b) wire transfer to an account maintained by the person entitled thereto as specified in the register of holders of the debentures, provided that proper transfer instructions have been received by the applicable record date. Payment of any interest on debentures will be made to the person in whose name the debenture is registered at the close of business on the regular record date for the interest payment, except in the case of defaulted interest.

 

Any moneys deposited with the indenture trustee or any paying agent for the debentures, or then held by us in trust, for the payment of the principal of or interest on the debentures and remaining unclaimed for two years after the principal or interest has become due and payable, will be repaid to us. If we hold any of this money in trust, then it will be discharged from the trust to us and the holder of the debenture will thereafter look, as a general unsecured creditor, only to us for payment.

 

Registrar and Transfer Agent

 

The indenture trustee will act as the registrar and the transfer agent for the debentures. Debentures may be presented for registration of transfer, with the form of transfer endorsed thereon, or a satisfactory written instrument of transfer, duly executed, at the office of the registrar. Provided that we maintain a transfer agent in New York City, we may rescind the designation of any transfer agent or approve a change in the location through which any transfer agent acts. We may at any time designate additional transfer agents with respect to the debentures.

If we redeem any of the debentures, neither we nor the indenture trustee will be required to (a) issue, register the transfer of or exchange any debentures during a period beginning at the opening of business 15 days before the day of the mailing of and ending at the close of business on the day of the mailing of the relevant notice of redemption, or (b) transfer or exchange any debentures so selected for redemption, except, in the case of any debentures being redeemed in part, any portion not to be redeemed.

 

Modification of Indenture

 

We and the indenture trustee may, from time to time without the consent of the holders of the debentures, amend, waive our rights under or supplement the indenture for purposes which do not materially adversely affect the rights of the holders of the debentures. Other changes may be made by us and the indenture trustee with the consent of the holders of a majority in principal amount of the outstanding debentures. However, without the consent of the holder of each outstanding debenture affected by the proposed modification, no modification may:

 

 

As long as any of the trust preferred securities remain outstanding, no modification of the indenture may be made that requires the consent of the holders of the debentures, no termination of the indenture may occur, and no waiver of any event of default under the indenture may be effective, without the prior consent of the holders of a majority of the aggregate liquidation amount of the trust securities.

 

Debenture Events of Default

 

The indenture provides that any one or more of the following events with respect to the debentures that has occurred and is continuing constitutes an event of default under the indenture:

 

 

The holders of a majority of the aggregate outstanding principal amount of the debentures have the right to direct the time, method and place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the indenture trustee. The indenture trustee, or the holders of at least 25% in aggregate outstanding principal amount of the debentures, may declare the principal due and payable immediately upon an event of default under the indenture. The holders of a majority of the outstanding principal amount of the debentures may rescind and annul the declaration if the default has been cured and a sum sufficient to pay all matured installments of interest and principal due otherwise than by acceleration has been deposited with the indenture trustee and any and all events of default have been remedied or waived by the holders of a majority of the outstanding principal amount of the debentures. The holders may not annul the declaration and waive a default if the default is the non-payment of the principal of the debentures which has become due solely by the acceleration.

 

So long as the property trustee is the holder of the debentures, an event of default under the indenture has occurred and is continuing, the property trustee will have the right to declare the principal of and the interest

on the debentures, and any other amounts payable under the indenture, to be immediately due and payable and to enforce its other rights as a creditor with respect to the debentures.

 

We are required to file annually with the indenture trustee a certificate as to whether or not we are in compliance with all of the conditions and covenants applicable to us under the indenture.

 

Enforcement of Certain Rights by Holders of the Trust Preferred Securities

 

If an event of default under the indenture has occurred and is continuing and the event is attributable to the failure by us to pay interest on or principal of the debentures on the date on which the payment is due and payable, then a holder of trust preferred securities may institute a direct action against us to compel us to make the payment. We may not amend the indenture to remove the foregoing right to bring a direct action without the prior written consent of all of the holders of the trust preferred securities. If the right to bring a direct action is removed, the trust may become subject to the reporting obligations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

 

The holders of the trust preferred securities will not be able to exercise directly any remedies, other than those set forth in the preceding paragraph, available to the holders of the debentures unless there has been an event of default under the trust agreement.

 

Consolidation, Merger, Sale of Assets and Other Transactions

 

We may not consolidate with or merge into any other entity or convey or transfer our properties and assets substantially as an entirety to any entity, and no entity may be consolidated with or merged into us or sell, convey, transfer or otherwise dispose of its properties and assets substantially as an entirety to us, unless:

 

 

Under certain circumstances, if we consolidate or merge with another entity, or transfer or sell substantially all of our assets to another entity, such transaction may be considered to involve a replacement of the trust, and the provisions of the trust agreement relating to a replacement of the trust would apply to such transaction. See “Description of the Trust Preferred Securities — Mergers, Consolidations, Amalgamations or Replacements of the Trust.”

 

Satisfaction and Discharge

 

The indenture will cease to be of further effect and we will be deemed to have satisfied and discharged our obligations under the indenture when all debentures not previously delivered to the indenture trustee for cancellation:

 

 

We may still be required to provide officers’ certificates, opinions of counsel and pay fees and expenses due after these events occur.

Governing Law

 

Unless otherwise specified in a prospectus supplement, the indenture and the debentures will be governed by and construed in accordance with Illinois law.

 

Information Concerning the Indenture Trustee

 

The indenture trustee is subject to all the duties and responsibilities specified with respect to an indenture trustee under the Trust Indenture Act. Subject to these provisions, the indenture trustee is under no obligation to exercise any of the powers vested in it by the indenture at the request of any holder of debentures, unless offered reasonable security or indemnity by the holder against the costs, expenses and liabilities which might be incurred. The indenture trustee is not required to expend or risk its own funds or otherwise incur personal financial liability in the performance of its duties if the indenture trustee reasonably believes that repayment or adequate indemnity is not reasonably assured to it.

 

Miscellaneous

 

We have agreed, pursuant to the indenture, for so long as trust preferred securities remain outstanding:

 

 

The trust preferred securities guarantee agreement will be executed and delivered by us concurrently with the issuance of the trust preferred securities for the benefit of the holders of the trust preferred securities. The guarantee agreement will be qualified as an indenture under the Trust Indenture Act. The guarantee trustee will act as trustee for purposes of complying with the provisions of the Trust Indenture Act, and will also hold each guarantee for the benefit of the holders of the trust preferred securities. The following discussion contains a description of the material provisions of the guarantee and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the guarantee agreement and the Trust Indenture Act. Prospective investors are urged to read the form of the guarantee agreement, which has been filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. Specific terms of a guarantee will be described in the prospectus supplement relating to the applicable trust preferred securities. If indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement, the terms of a particular guarantee may differ from the terms discussed below.

 

General

 

We agree to pay in full on a subordinated basis, to the extent described in the guarantee agreement, the guarantee payments (as defined below) to the holders of the trust preferred securities as and when due,

regardless of any defense, right of set-off or counterclaim that the trust may have or assert other than the defense of payment.

 

The following payments with respect to the trust preferred securities are called the “guarantee payments” and, to the extent not paid or made by the trust and to the extent that the trust has funds available for those distributions, will be subject to the guarantee:

 

 

(a) the amount of the liquidation distribution; and

 

(b) the amount of assets of the trust remaining available for distribution to holders of trust preferred securities in liquidation of the trust.

 

We may satisfy our obligations to make a guarantee payment by making a direct payment of the required amounts to the holders of the trust preferred securities or by causing the trust to pay the amounts to the holders.

 

The guarantee agreement is a guarantee, on a subordinated basis, of the guarantee payments, but the guarantee only applies to the extent the trust has funds available for those distributions. If we do not make interest payments on the debentures purchased by the trust, the trust will not have funds available to make the distributions and will not pay distributions on the trust preferred securities.

 

Status of Guarantee

 

The guarantee constitutes our unsecured obligation that ranks subordinate and junior in right of payment to all of our senior and subordinated debt in the same manner as the debentures. We expect to incur additional indebtedness in the future, although we have no specific plans in this regard presently, and neither of the indenture nor the trust agreement limits the amounts of the obligations that we may incur.

 

The guarantee constitutes a guarantee of payment and not of collection. If we fail to make guarantee payments when required, holders of trust preferred securities may institute a legal proceeding directly against us to enforce their rights under the guarantee without first instituting a legal proceeding against any other person or entity.

 

The guarantee will not be discharged except by payment of the guarantee payments in full to the extent not paid by the trust or upon distribution of the debentures to the holders of the trust preferred securities. Because we are a bank holding company, our right to participate in any distribution of assets of any subsidiary upon the subsidiary’s liquidation or reorganization or otherwise is subject to the prior claims of creditors of that subsidiary, except to the extent we may be recognized as a creditor of that subsidiary. Our obligations under the guarantee, therefore, will be effectively subordinated to all existing and future liabilities of our subsidiaries, and claimants should look only to our assets for payments under the guarantee.

 

Amendments

 

Except with respect to any changes that do not materially adversely affect the rights of holders of the trust preferred securities, in which case no vote will be required, the guarantee may not be amended without the prior approval of the holders of a majority of the aggregate liquidation amount of the outstanding trust preferred securities.

Events of Default; Remedies

 

An event of default under the guarantee agreement will occur upon our failure to make any required guarantee payments or to perform any other obligations under the guarantee. If the guarantee trustee has actual knowledge that an event of default has occurred and is continuing, the guarantee trustee must enforce the guarantee for the benefit of the holders of the trust preferred securities. The holders of a majority in aggregate liquidation amount of the trust preferred securities will have the right to direct the time, method and place of conducting any proceeding for any remedy available to the guarantee trustee in respect of the guarantee and may direct the exercise of any power conferred upon the guarantee trustee under the guarantee agreement.

 

Any holder of trust preferred securities may institute and prosecute a legal proceeding directly against us to enforce its rights under the guarantee without first instituting a legal proceeding against the trust, the guarantee trustee or any other person or entity.

 

We are required to provide to the guarantee trustee annually a certificate as to whether or not we are in compliance with all of the conditions and covenants applicable to us under the guarantee agreement.

 

Termination of the Guarantee

 

The guarantee will terminate and be of no further force and effect upon:

 

 

If at any time any holder of the trust preferred securities must restore payment of any sums paid under the trust preferred securities or the guarantee, the guarantee will continue to be effective or will be reinstated with respect to such amounts.

 

Information Concerning the Guarantee Trustee

 

The guarantee trustee, other than during the occurrence and continuance of our default in performance of the guarantee, undertakes to perform only those duties as are specifically set forth in the guarantee. When an event of default has occurred and is continuing, the guarantee trustee must exercise the same degree of care and skill as a prudent person would exercise or use in the conduct of his or her own affairs. Subject to those provisions, the guarantee trustee is under no obligation to exercise any of the powers vested in it by the guarantee at the request of any holder of any trust preferred securities, unless it is offered reasonable security and indemnity against the costs, expenses and liabilities that might be incurred thereby; but this does not relieve the guarantee trustee of its obligation to exercise the rights and powers under the guarantee in the event of a default.

 

Expense Agreement

 

We will, pursuant to the separate Agreement as to Expenses and Liabilities entered into by us and the trust under the trust agreement, irrevocably and unconditionally guarantee to each person or entity to whom the trust becomes indebted or liable, the full payment of any costs, expenses or liabilities of the trust, other than obligations of the trust to pay to the holders of the trust preferred securities or other similar interests in the trust of the amounts due to the holders pursuant to the terms of the trust preferred securities or other similar interests, as the case may be. Third party creditors of the trust may proceed directly against us under the expense agreement, regardless of whether they had notice of the expense agreement.

 

Governing Law

 

Unless otherwise specified in a prospectus supplement, the guarantee will be governed by Illinois law.

 

Unless otherwise indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement, the offered securities may, subject to certain legal restrictions, be held by (i) pension, profit sharing, and other employee benefit plans which are subject to Title I of the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974, as amended (which we refer to as “ERISA”), (ii) plans, accounts, and other arrangements that are subject to Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (which we refer to as the “Code”), or provisions under federal, state, local, non-U.S., or other laws or regulations that are similar to any of the provisions of Title I of ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code (which we refer to as “Similar Laws”), and (iii) entities whose underlying assets are considered to include “plan assets” of any such plans, accounts, or arrangements. Section 406 of ERISA and Section 4975 of the Code prohibit plans from engaging in specified transactions involving “plan assets” with persons who are “parties in interest” under ERISA or “disqualified persons” under the Code with respect to such pension, profit sharing, or other employee benefit plans that are subject to Section 406 of ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code. A violation of these prohibited transaction rules may result in an excise tax or other liabilities under ERISA and/or Section 4975 of the Code for such persons, unless exemptive relief is available under an applicable statutory, class, or administrative exemption. A fiduciary of any such plan, account, or arrangement must determine that the purchase and holding of an interest in the offered securities is consistent with its fiduciary duties and will not constitute or result in a non-exempt prohibited transaction under Section 406 of ERISA or Section 4975 of the Code, or a violation under any applicable Similar Laws.

 

Unless we indicate otherwise in the applicable prospectus supplement, the Depository Trust Company (“DTC”), New York, New York, will act as securities depository for the Wintrust offered securities and the trust preferred securities (collectively, the “Offered Securities”). The Offered Securities will be issued as fully-registered securities registered in the name of Cede & Co. (DTC’s partnership nominee) or such other name as may be requested by an authorized representative of DTC. One fully-registered Offered Security certificate will be issued for each issue of the Offered Securities, each in the aggregate principal amount of such issue, and will be deposited with DTC. If, however, the aggregate principal amount of any issue exceeds $500 million, one certificate will be issued with respect to each $500 million of principal amount, and an additional certificate will be issued with respect to any remaining principal amount of such issue.

 

DTC is a limited-purpose trust company organized under the New York Banking Law, a “banking organization” within the meaning of the New York Banking Law, a member of the Federal Reserve System, a “clearing corporation” within the meaning of the New York Uniform Commercial Code and a “clearing agency” registered pursuant to the provisions of Section 17A of the Exchange Act. DTC holds and provides asset servicing for securities that DTC’s participants (“Direct Participants”) deposit with DTC. DTC also facilitates the post-trade settlement among Direct Participants of sales and other securities transactions in deposited securities, through electronic computerized book-entry transfers and pledges between Direct Participants’ accounts. This eliminates the need for physical movement of securities certificates. Direct Participants include both U.S. and non-U.S. securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and certain other organizations. DTC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (“DTCC”). DTCC is the holding company for DTC, National Securities Clearing Corporation and Fixed Income Clearing Corporation, all of which are registered clearing agencies. DTCC is owned by the users of its regulated subsidiaries. Access to the DTC system is also available to others such as both U.S. and non-U.S. securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies and clearing corporations that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a Direct Participant, either directly or indirectly (“Indirect Participants”).

 

Purchases of Offered Securities under the DTC system must be made by or through Direct Participants, which will receive a credit for the Offered Securities on DTC’s records. The ownership interest of each actual purchaser of each Offered Security (“Beneficial Owner”) is in turn to be recorded on the Direct Participants’ and Indirect Participants’ records. Beneficial Owners will not receive written confirmation from DTC of their purchase.

Beneficial Owners are, however, expected to receive written confirmations providing details of the transaction, as well as periodic statements of their holdings, from the Direct Participant or Indirect Participant through which the Beneficial Owner entered into the transaction. Transfers of ownership interests in the Offered Securities are to be accomplished by entries made on the books of Direct Participants and Indirect Participants acting on behalf of Beneficial Owners. Beneficial Owners will not receive certificates representing their ownership interests in Offered Securities, except in the event that use of the book-entry system for the Offered Securities is discontinued.

 

To facilitate subsequent transfers, all Offered Securities deposited by Direct Participants with DTC are registered in the name of DTC’s partnership nominee, Cede & Co., or such other name as may be requested by an authorized representative of DTC. The deposit of Offered Securities with DTC and their registration in the name of Cede & Co. or such other DTC nominee do not effect any change in beneficial ownership. DTC has no knowledge of the actual Beneficial Owners of the Offered Securities; DTC’s records reflect only the identity of the Direct Participants to whose accounts such Offered Securities are credited, which may or may not be the Beneficial Owners. The Direct Participants and Indirect Participants will remain responsible for keeping account of their holdings on behalf of their customers.

 

Conveyance of notices and other communications by DTC to Direct Participants, by Direct Participants to Indirect Participants and by Direct Participants and Indirect Participants to Beneficial Owners will be governed by arrangements among them, subject to any statutory or regulatory requirements as may be in effect from time to time. Beneficial Owners of Offered Securities may wish to take certain steps to augment the transmission to them of notices of significant events with respect to the Offered Securities, such as redemptions, tenders, defaults and proposed amendments to the Offered Security documents. For example, Beneficial Owners of Offered Securities may wish to ascertain that the nominee holding the Offered Securities for their benefit has agreed to obtain and transmit notices to Beneficial Owners.

 

Redemption notices shall be sent to DTC. If less than all of the Offered Securities within an issue are being redeemed, DTC’s practice is to determine by lot the amount of the interest of each Direct Participant in such issue to be redeemed.

 

Neither DTC nor Cede & Co. (nor any other DTC nominee) will consent or vote with respect to Offered Securities unless authorized by a Direct Participant in accordance with DTC’s MMI Procedures. Under its usual procedures, DTC mails an Omnibus Proxy to the applicable Registrant as soon as possible after the record date. The Omnibus Proxy assigns Cede & Co.’s consenting or voting rights to those Direct Participants to whose accounts Offered Securities are credited on the record date (identified in a listing attached to the Omnibus Proxy).

 

Redemption proceeds, distributions and dividend payments on the Offered Securities will be made to Cede & Co., or such other nominee as may be requested by an authorized representative of DTC. DTC’s practice is to credit Direct Participants’ accounts upon DTC’s receipt of funds and corresponding detail information from the applicable Registrant or the agent, on payable date in accordance with their respective holdings shown on DTC’s records. Payments by participants to Beneficial Owners will be governed by standing instructions and customary practices, as is the case with securities held for the accounts of customers in bearer form or registered in “street name”, and will be the responsibility of such participant and not of DTC, the agent or the applicable Registrant, subject to any statutory or regulatory requirements as may be in effect from time to time. Payment of redemption proceeds, distributions and dividend payments to Cede & Co. (or such other nominee as may be requested by an authorized representative of DTC) is the responsibility of the applicable Registrant or the agent, disbursement of such payments to Direct Participants will be the responsibility of DTC, and disbursement of such payments to the Beneficial Owners will be the responsibility of Direct Participants and Indirect Participants.

 

A Beneficial Owner shall give notice to elect to have its Offered Securities purchased or tendered, through its participant, to the tender or remarketing agent, and shall effect delivery of such Offered Securities by causing the Direct Participant to transfer the such participant’s interest in the Offered Securities, on DTC’s records, to such agent. The requirement for physical delivery of Offered Securities in connection with an optional tender or a mandatory purchase will be deemed satisfied when the ownership rights in the Offered

Securities are transferred by Direct Participants on DTC’s records and followed by a book-entry credit of tendered Offered Securities to such agent’s DTC account.

 

DTC may discontinue providing its services as depository with respect to the Offered Securities at any time by giving reasonable notice to the applicable Registrant or the agent. Under such circumstances, in the event that a successor depository is not obtained, Offered Security certificates are required to be printed and delivered.

 

The applicable Registrant may decide to discontinue use of the system of book-entry-only transfers through DTC (or a successor securities depository). In that event, Offered Security certificates will be printed and delivered to DTC.

 

The information in this section concerning DTC and DTC’s book-entry system has been obtained from sources that each Registrant believes to be reliable, but no Registrant takes any responsibility for the accuracy thereof.

 

We and the selling securityholders may sell the offered securities inside and outside the United States from time to time (a) through underwriters or dealers, (b) directly to one or more purchasers, including our affiliates, (c) through agents, or (d) through a combination of any of these methods.

 

We will pay the costs and fees of registering the securities covered by this prospectus and other expenses related to the registration of the securities, including any securities offered by the selling securityholders to the extent required by the Securities Purchase Agreement, dated December 19, 2008, between us and the United States Department of the Treasury (the “Purchase Agreement”). However, we will not pay on behalf of the selling securityholders any underwriting discounts or commissions or other amounts payable by them to underwriters, dealers or agents, or any transfer taxes or other expenses associated with the sale of the securities by the selling securityholders.

 

The selling securityholders will act independently of us in making decisions with respect to the timing, manner and size of each sale of securities.

 

In addition to selling securities under this prospectus, the selling securityholders may transfer their securities in other ways not involving market makers or established trading markets, including directly by gift, distribution or other transfer. Moreover, the selling securityholders may decide not to sell any securities offered hereby.

 

We will file a supplement to this prospectus, if required, pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act. Such supplement may disclose:

 

 

Any securities covered by this prospectus which qualify for sale pursuant to Rule 144 or Rule 144A promulgated under the Securities Act may be sold under Rule 144 or Rule 144A in certain instances, rather than pursuant to this prospectus. In addition, we and the selling securityholders may transfer the securities by other means not described in this prospectus.

 

General

 

Underwriters, dealers, agents and remarketing firms that participate in the distribution of the offered securities may be “underwriters” as defined in the Securities Act of 1933. Any discounts or commissions they receive from us or the selling securityholders and any profits they receive on the resale of the offered securities may be treated as underwriting discounts and commissions under the Securities Act of 1933. We will identify any underwriters, agents or dealers and describe their commissions, fees or discounts in the applicable prospectus supplement.

 

This prospectus, together with any applicable prospectus supplement, may also be used by our affiliates in connection with offers and sales of the securities in market-making transactions at negotiated prices related to prevailing market prices at the time of sale. Such affiliates may act as principals or agents in such transactions. None of our affiliates have any obligation to make a market in the securities and each may discontinue any market-making activities at any time, without notice, at its sole discretion.

 

Sale Through Underwriters or Dealers

 

If we or the selling securityholders use underwriters in a sale, they will acquire the offered securities for their own account. The underwriters may resell the securities in one or more transactions, including negotiated transactions. These sales will be made at a fixed public offering price or at varying prices determined at the time of the sale.

 

We or the selling securityholders may offer the securities to the public through an underwriting syndicate or through a single underwriter.

 

Unless the applicable prospectus supplement states otherwise, the obligations of the underwriters to purchase the offered securities will be subject to certain conditions contained in an underwriting agreement that we or the selling securityholders will enter into with the underwriters. The underwriters will be obligated to purchase all of the securities of the series offered if any of the securities are purchased, unless the applicable prospectus supplement says otherwise. Any initial public offering price and any discounts or concessions allowed, re-allowed or paid to dealers may be changed from time to time.

 

If we or the selling securityholders use dealers in a sale of securities, we or the selling securityholders will sell the securities to them as principals. They may then resell those securities to the public at varying prices determined by the dealers at the time of resale. We will include in the prospectus supplement the names of the dealers and the terms of the transaction.

 

Direct Sales and Sales Through Agents

 

We or the selling securityholders may choose to sell the offered securities directly. In this case, no underwriters or agents would be involved. We or the selling securityholders may also sell the securities through agents designated from time to time. In the prospectus supplement, we will name any agent involved in the offer or sale of the offered securities, and we will describe any commissions payable by us or the selling securityholders to the agent. Unless we inform you otherwise in the prospectus supplement, any agent will agree to use its best efforts to solicit purchases for the period of its appointment.

 

We or the selling securityholders may sell the securities directly to institutional investors or others who may be deemed to be underwriters within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 with respect to any sale of those securities. We will describe the terms of any such sales in the prospectus supplement.

Delayed Delivery Contracts

 

If we so indicate in the prospectus supplement, we or the selling securityholders may authorize agents, underwriters or dealers to solicit offers from certain types of institutions to purchase securities from us or the selling securityholders at the public offering price under delayed delivery contracts. These contracts would provide for payment and delivery on a specified date in the future. The contracts would be subject only to those conditions described in the prospectus supplement. The prospectus supplement will describe the commission payable for solicitation of those contracts.

 

Indemnification

 

We or the selling securityholders may have agreements with agents, underwriters, dealers and remarketing firms and each of their respective affiliates to indemnify them against certain civil liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933. Agents, underwriters, dealers and remarketing firms, and their affiliates, may engage in transactions with, or perform services for, us in the ordinary course of business. This includes commercial banking and investment banking transactions.

 

Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, we have agreed to provide certain indemnification to the selling securityholders against certain liabilities in connection with their sales.

 

Market Making, Stabilization and Other Transactions

 

Unless the applicable prospectus supplement states otherwise, each series of offered securities will be a new issue and will have no established trading market. We may elect to list any series of offered securities on an exchange. Any underwriters that are used in the sale of offered securities may make a market in such securities, but may discontinue such market making at any time without notice. Therefore, we cannot assure you that the securities will have a liquid trading market.

 

In connection with the sale of the securities or otherwise, we or the selling securityholders may enter into one or more, or a combination of, hedging transactions with financial institutions, which we refer to as “counterparties,” in which we or the selling securityholders:

 

 

Any underwriter may engage in stabilizing transactions, syndicate covering transactions and penalty bids in accordance with Rule 104 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Stabilizing transactions permit bids to purchase the underlying security so long as the stabilizing bids do not exceed a specified maximum.

 

Syndicate covering transactions involve purchases of the securities in the open market after the distribution has been completed in order to cover syndicate short positions. Penalty bids permit the underwriters to reclaim a selling concession from a syndicate member when the securities originally sold by the syndicate member are purchased in a syndicate covering transaction to cover syndicate short positions. These stabilizing transactions, syndicate covering transactions and penalty bids may cause the price of the securities to be higher than it would be in the absence of the transactions. The underwriters may, if they commence these transactions, discontinue them at any time.

 

 

On December 19, 2008, we issued the shares of series B preferred and the warrant covered by this prospectus to the United States Department of the Treasury, which is the initial selling securityholder under this prospectus, in a transaction exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. The initial selling securityholder, or its successors, including transferees, may from time to time offer and sell, pursuant

to this prospectus or a supplement to this prospectus, any or all of the securities they own. The securities to be offered under this prospectus for the account of the selling securityholders are:

 

 

For purposes of this prospectus, we have assumed that, after completion of an offering by the selling securityholders, none of the securities covered by this prospectus will be held by the selling securityholders.

 

Beneficial ownership is determined in accordance with the rules of the SEC and includes voting or investment power with respect to the securities. To our knowledge, the initial selling securityholder has sole voting and investment power with respect to the securities, subject to restrictions on exercise of voting rights on series B preferred and the common shares issuable upon exercise of the warrant as described in “Description of Capital Stock — Authorized Capital Stock — Description of Series B Preferred Stock” and “Description of Warrant to Purchase Common Shares” above, respectively.

 

We do not know when or in what amounts the selling securityholders may offer the securities for sale. The selling securityholders might not sell any or all of the securities offered by this prospectus. Because the selling securityholders may offer all, some, or none of the securities pursuant to this offering, we cannot estimate the number of the securities that will be held by the selling securityholders after completion of the offering.

 

Other than with respect to the acquisition of the securities pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, the initial selling securityholder has not had a material relationship with us.

 

Information about the selling securityholders may change over time and changed information will be set forth in supplements to this prospectus if and when necessary.

 

 

The validity of the debt securities, the junior subordinated debentures, the guarantee, common shares, warrants, preferred shares, depositary shares, stock purchase contracts, stock purchase units, series B preferred and the warrant will be passed upon for Wintrust by Sidley Austin LLP, Chicago, Illinois. The validity of the trust preferred securities will be passed upon for the Trust by Sidley Austin LLP, special Delaware counsel to the Trusts.

 

 

The consolidated financial statements of Wintrust Financial Corporation incorporated by reference in Wintrust Financial Corporation’s Annual Report (Form 10-K) for the year ended December 31, 2008 and the effectiveness of Wintrust Financial Corporation’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2008, have been audited by Ernst & Young LLP, independent registered public accounting firm, as set forth in their reports thereon incorporated by reference therein, and incorporated herein by reference. Such consolidated financial statements and Wintrust Financial Corporation’s management’s assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2008 are incorporated herein by reference in reliance upon such reports given on the authority of such firm as experts in accounting and auditing.

 

We file annual, quarterly, and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Our SEC filings are available to the public over the Internet at the SEC’s web site at http://www.sec.gov and on the investor relations page of our website at http://www.wintrust.com. Except for those SEC filings incorporated by reference in this prospectus, none of the other information on our website is part of this prospectus. You may also read and copy any document we file with the SEC at its public reference facilities at 100 F Street N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. You can also obtain copies of the

documents upon the payment of a duplicating fee to the SEC. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the operation of the public reference facilities.

 

This prospectus omits some information contained in the registration statement in accordance with SEC rules and regulations. You should review the information and exhibits included in the registration statement for further information about us and the securities we and the selling securityholders are offering. Statements in this prospectus concerning any document we filed as an exhibit to the registration statement or that we otherwise filed with the SEC are not intended to be comprehensive and are qualified by reference to these filings. You should review the complete document to evaluate these statements.

 

We have not included separate financial statements of the Trust. Wintrust and the Trust do not consider that such financial statements would be material to holders of Trust Preferred Securities of the Trust because the Trust is a special purpose entity, has no operating history and has no independent operations. The Trust is not currently involved in and does not anticipate being involved in any activity other than as described under “Prospectus Summary — The Trust”. Further, Wintrust and the Trust believe that financial statements of the Trust are not material to the holders of the Trust Preferred Securities of the Trust since Wintrust Financial will guarantee the Trust Preferred Securities of the Trust. Holders of the Trust Preferred Securities of the Trust, with respect to the payment of distributions and amounts upon liquidation, dissolution and winding-up, are at least in the same position vis-à-vis the assets of Wintrust as a preferred stockholder of Wintrust. Wintrust beneficially owns all of the undivided beneficial interests in the assets of the Trust (other than the beneficial interests represented by the Trust Preferred Securities of the Trusts). See “Prospectus Summary — The Trust”, “Description of the Trust” and “Trust Preferred Securities.” In the event that the Trust issues securities, our filings under the Exchange Act will include an audited footnote to Wintrust’s annual financial statements stating that the Trust is wholly owned by Wintrust, that the sole asset of the Trust is the Senior Debentures or the Subordinated Debentures of Wintrust having a specified aggregate principal amount, and that, considered together, the back-up undertakings, including the Guarantees of Wintrust, constitute a full and unconditional guarantee by Wintrust of the Trust’s obligations under any Trust Preferred Securities issued by the Trust.

 

The SEC allows us to incorporate by reference much of the information that we file with it, which means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to those publicly available documents. The information that we incorporate by reference is an important part of this prospectus. Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference into this prospectus will be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this prospectus to the extent that a statement contained in this prospectus or any other subsequently filed document that is deemed to be incorporated by reference into this prospectus modifies or supersedes the statement. Any statement so modified or superseded will not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this prospectus.

 

This prospectus incorporates by reference the documents listed below and any filings we make with the SEC under Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14, or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 after the initial filing of the registration statement related to this prospectus until the termination of the offering of the securities described in this prospectus; provided, however, that we are not incorporating by reference any documents, portions of documents or other information that is deemed to have been “furnished” and not “filed” with the SEC:

 

 

You may request a copy of these filings, other than an exhibit to a filing unless that exhibit is specifically incorporated by reference into that filing, at no cost, by writing to us at the following address or calling us at the following telephone number:

 

Investor Relations
Wintrust Financial Corporation
727 North Bank Lane
Lake Forest, Illinois 60045
(847) 615-4096

 

You should rely only on the information incorporated by reference or provided in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement. We have not authorized anyone else to provide you with different information or to make any representations other than as contained in this prospectus or in any prospectus supplement. We and the selling securityholders are not making any offer of these securities in any state where the offer is not permitted.