Alpine Associates Opposes PrivateBancorp Merger

Alpine Associates Opposes PrivateBancorp Merger

Alpine Associates Management Inc., the investment manager for entities which hold approximately 1,469,000 shares of PrivateBancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: PVTB), today announced that at this time it intends to vote AGAINST PrivateBancorp's proposed stock and cash acquisition by CIBC (NYSE:CM), as currently structured, at the upcoming December 8, 2016 shareholder meeting. Since the U.S. Presidential election, it is clear that the fundamental backdrop for the regional banking industry has dramatically improved. The prospect of higher interest rates, revised banking regulation and a lower corporate tax rate caused the S&P Regional Banking ETF (NYSE:KRE) to rise 19.2% from November 8^th through November 30^th, while shares of PVTB only advanced 3.4% during this timeframe. From June 28^th (the day before the PVTB/CIBC transaction was announced) through November 30^th, KRE gained 43.2% while PVTB’s stock price only rose 30.2%. We believe that any fair-minded view of PrivateBancorp’s valuation suggests that its standalone value is equal to or higher than the price currently being offered by CIBC.

Alpine supports the recommendation of Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”) that PVTB shareholders vote AGAINST the current transaction.

Alpine Associates Management Inc. is a private investment manager located in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Alpine Associates
Todd Mason, 201-871-0866

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