U.S. Century to Sell Troubled Loans Prior to Purchase by C1: Report

C1 Bank of Lakewood Ranch, Fla., may be requiring U.S. Century Bank in Doral, Fla., to unload some troubled loans prior to C1's pending purchase of the struggling lender.

As part of their deal, $925 million-asset C1, which agreed in August to buy U.S. Century for an undisclosed price, has elicited a promise from U.S. Century to sell some nonperforming assets, the South Florida Business Journal reported Thursday.

The exact amount of the loan sales was reportedly redacted from the companies' merger agreement, which the Business Journal says it obtained from Florida's Office of Financial Regulation. C1 reportedly has the right to approve the sales, which must be for at least the book value of the assets.

C1 declined a request by American Banker to comment on the report. A spokeswoman for U.S. Century also declined to comment, citing a confidentiality provision in its agreement with C1.

As of June 30, the $1.3 billion-asset U.S. Century reported $220 million in noncurrent loans, with about $214 million of them secured by real estate, and $21 million in loans between 30 and 89 days past due, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The bank, which received $50 million in August 2009 from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, had a core capital ratio of 3.93% as of June 30, according to the FDIC.

C1 has said it plans to repay the funds U.S. Century received from Tarp and to invest $100 million into the struggling bank as part of the deal, which is expected to close later this year.

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