First Community Corporation Announces Full Exercise of Underwriter's Over-Allotment and Successful Closing of Common Stock Offering

LEXINGTON, S.C., July 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- First Community Corporation (Nasdaq:  FCCO), the holding company for First Community Bank, N.A., announced the close of its previously announced public common stock offering on July 27, 2012.  In connection with the closing, the underwriter for the offering exercised, in full, its over-allotment option to purchase an additional 244,565 shares of the Company's common stock.  With this exercise, the offering resulted in the issuance of a total of 1,875,000 shares of common stock at $8.00 per share, resulting in gross proceeds of $15 million, as compared to its original target of $12.5 million.  The net proceeds of the offering were approximately $13.8 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses.  Strong investor interest led Raymond James & Associates, Inc, the sole underwriter of the offering, to fully exercise their over-allotment option.  The Company noted that the blend of institutional and retail investors speaks to the broad reception for the offering, which was three times oversubscribed.  In addition, the Company was able to price the offering at-the-market as compared to a discount which is typically seen in this type of offering.  Immediate market reaction after the pricing of the offering has been strong.  The Company believes that this transaction represents the only successfully executed publicly underwritten common stock offering in more than five years for a bank in the Carolinas with $1 billion or less in total assets.

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Mike Crapps, President and CEO of First Community commented on the offering by saying, "The proceeds of this offering position our Company well for future opportunities, including the potential repurchase of the TARP-CPP preferred shares and the warrants issued to the U.S. Treasury.  Additionally, it positions the Company well to take advantage of certain growth opportunities in the marketplace."  Crapps continued, "We believe the response to this offering affirms the confidence of investors in the strength of our business plan and the success of our business model.  We look forward to the future with excitement for our Company and its shareholders."

This announcement shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any offer or sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.  A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  The offering will be made only by means of the prospectus which is a part of such registration statement.  A copy of the prospectus may be obtained from Raymond James & Associates, Inc. at 880 Carillon Parkway, St. Petersburg, Florida 33716, (800) 248-8863.

First Community Corporation stock trades on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol "FCCO" and is the holding company for First Community Bank, N.A., a local community bank based in the midlands of South Carolina.  First Community Bank, N.A. operates eleven banking offices located in Lexington, Richland, Newberry and Kershaw counties in addition to First Community Financial Consultants, a financial planning/investment advisory division and Palmetto South Mortgage, a separate mortgage division.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements in this news release contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, such as statements relating to future plans and expectations, and are thus prospective. Such forward-looking statements are identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "intends," "plans," "targets," and "projects," as well as similar expressions are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements include but are not limited to: (1) the strength of the United States economy in general and the strength of the local economies in which the Company conducts its operations which could result in, among other things, a deterioration in the credit quality or a reduced demand for credit, including the resultant effect on our loan portfolio and allowance for loan losses and the rate of delinquencies and amounts of charge-offs, or adverse changes in asset quality in our loan portfolio, which may result in increased credit risk-related losses and expenses; (2) adverse conditions in the stock market, the public debt market and other capital markets (including changes in interest rate conditions) and the impact of such conditions on the Company; and (3) actions taken by banking regulatory agencies related to the banking industry in general and the Company specifically. Although we believe that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of the assumptions could prove to be inaccurate. Therefore, we can give no assurance that the results contemplated in the forward-looking statements will be realized.

The inclusion of this forward-looking information should not be construed as a representation by our company or any person that the future events, plans, or expectations contemplated by our company will be achieved. Additional factors that could cause our results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in our reports (such as Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K) filed with the SEC and available at the SEC's Internet site (http://www.sec.gov). All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements concerning the Company or any person acting on its behalf is expressly qualified in its entirety by the cautionary statements above. We do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward-looking statements are made.

SOURCE First Community Corporation