Central Pacific Financial Corp. said today that shareholders who own the company’s stock as of the close of trading Friday will be eligible to purchase additional shares at $10 each when the “rights offering” period is determined.

Shares of Central Pacific Bank’s parent closed down 82 cents, or 2.7 percent, at $29.18 today on the New York Stock Exchange.

Central Pacific, which just completed a $325 million capital-raising program with private investors, will bring in an additional $20 million through the shareholders’ offering.  With 1.527 million shares outstanding, shareholders will be able to purchase at least 1.3 shares for every share they own. The “rights offering” shares also can be sold or transferred. The new shares offered by Central Pacific will be dilutive to the stock. 

Shareholders will not be able to buy the $10 shares until after Central Pacific files a registration statement related to that offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission and that statement is approved. Central Pacific said it expects to file the registration statement this week and will announce the beginning and expiration dates for the rights offering when the information is available.

Separately, Fitch Ratings has upgraded the long-term Issuer Default Ratings of Central Pacific Financial Corp. and subsidiary Central Pacific Bank to “B-” from “CC” following the completion of the company’s $325 million capital raise that was led by The Carlyle Group and Anchorage Capital Group. The rating outlook is stable.

“While nonperforming assets are still elevated at 14.14 percent and commercial real estate remains a significant concentration, the level of risk in the portfolio has been materially reduced and the prospect of the company returning to profitability has considerably improved,” Fitch said.