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CINCINNATI, Dec. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Fifth Third Bancorp (Nasdaq: FITB) announced today that it has completed the sale of approximately $3.4 billion in preferred shares to the U.S. Department of the Treasury under the Treasury's Capital Purchase Program ("CPP" or "Program"). This program, part of the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program ("TARP"), is designed to provide a firmer capital foundation for financial firms and to increase credit availability to consumers and businesses.

"This investment significantly enhances Fifth Third's already well-capitalized balance sheet," said Kevin T. Kabat, chairman, president and CEO of Fifth Third Bancorp. "The additional capital increases our capacity to provide credit to businesses and consumers in our markets and to further assist struggling borrowers. It also provides flexibility to pursue other economically-beneficial opportunities as well as important additional capacity to deal with the potential negative effects of a challenging and uncertain economic outlook."

Fifth Third issued 136,320 shares of Fixed Rate Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series F, having a liquidation preference of $25,000 per share, and a ten-year warrant to purchase up to 43,617,747 shares of Fifth Third common stock at an exercise price of $11.72. The preferred stock investment represented $3,408 million dollars, or approximately 3 percent of Fifth Third Bancorp's risk weighted assets as of September 30, 2008.

Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Company has $116 billion in assets, operates 18 affiliates with 1,308 full-service Banking Centers, including 92 Bank Mart(R) locations open seven days a week inside select grocery stores and 2,339 ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Georgia and North Carolina. Fifth Third operates five main businesses: Commercial Banking, Branch Banking, Consumer Lending, Investment Advisors and Fifth Third Processing Solutions. Fifth Third is among the largest money managers in the Midwest and, as of September 30, 2008, has $196 billion in assets under care, of which it managed $30 billion for individuals, corporations and not-for-profit organizations. Investor information and press releases can be viewed at www.53.com. Fifth Third's common stock is traded on the NASDAQ(R) National Global Select Market under the symbol "FITB."