First Niagara prices $300 million senior notes offering

First Niagara Financial Group Inc. has priced an underwritten offering of $300 million of 6.75 percent senior unsecured notes due Friday.

The Buffalo-based bank will use a portion of the net proceeds to redeem the bank’s $150 million in 12 percent senior notes maturing Sept. 10, 2014 that were issued last September to National City Bank, a subsidiary of PNC Financial Services Group, the bank announced late Tuesday afternoon.

Portions of the debt offering also will be used to pay down a $50 million line of credit and for general corporate purposes, the bank said.

First Niagara’s risk management business is headquartered in Rochester. Wholly owned subsidiary First Niagara Bank ranks 10th in the Rochester market with local deposits of $500 million.

Shares of the bank (Nasdaq: FNFG) were trading midday Wednesday at $14.50, up 6 cents from Tuesday’s close.

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