Bogota Financial Corp. Announces Sale-Leaseback Transaction and Balance Sheet Restructure

TEANECK, N.J., Jan. 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bogota Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: BSBK) (the “Company”), the holding company for Bogota Savings Bank (the “Bank”), announced that the Bank completed a balance sheet restructuring consisting of two key transactions in the fourth quarter of 2024. The Bank entered into a sale-leaseback transaction whereby the Bank sold three of its branch offices resulting in a $9.0 million pre-tax gain. Subsequently, the Bank realized a pre-tax loss of $8.9 million on the sale of approximately $66.0 million in amortized cost ($57.1 million in market value) of available-for-sale and held-to-maturity (“HTM”) securities with a weighted average life of approximately 5.5 years and a weighted average yield of 1.89%.   A portion of the proceeds from the securities sales were reinvested into securities yielding approximately 5.49%. The remaining proceeds will be used to fund loans at current market rates ranging from 6.50% to 7.75%, as well as pay down higher cost borrowings, which will improve the net interest margin and the return on assets. As a result of the sales, the Bank is removing its HTM designation on any remaining HTM securities.

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