Chain Bridge Bancorp plans to go public

Chain Bridge Bancorp, the McLean holding company for Chain Bridge Bank, National Association, is planning to go public.

On Friday, the company filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of Class A common stock. The number of shares and price range for the IPO have not yet been set.

The proposed offering would start “as soon as practicable after the registration statement is declared effective,” according to the company’s SEC filing. Chain Bridge shares would trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CBNA.

As of June 30, Chain Bridge had $1.4 billion in assets and $1.3 billion in total deposits. Chain Bridge had deposit clients in 48 states, Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. About 38% of its total deposits came from Washington, D.C., and about 32% came from Virginia.

Chain Bridge Bancorp first announced it was evaluating an IPO in May. According to Friday’s SEC filing, the company would use the net proceeds from the proposed IPO to repay an outstanding balance of $10 million on an unsecured line of credit with another bank that is scheduled to mature on Dec. 5 and “for general corporate purposes,” which could include “funding potential strategic expansion.”

Chain Bridge Bancorp was incorporated in May 2006, and the bank opened in August 2007. Its CEO, John Brough, joined the company in July 2006 and became founding CEO of the bank in August 2007.

Piper Sandler & Co., Raymond James & Associates and Hovde Group are the book-running managers for the IPO.

In June 2020, California medical supply company Blue Flame Medical sued Chain Bridge, alleging the bank was responsible for destroying the company’s reputation and making it lose a $600 million state contract for personal protective equipment. In March 2023, a panel of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia’s ruling in favor of Chain Bridge.