U.S. Century in Florida Agrees to $50M Recapitalization

U.S. Century Bank in Doral, Fla., has agreed to be recapitalized by a group of Miami investors.

The investors would inject $50 million into the struggling lender, the bank said Monday. U.S. Century would also sell its nonperforming loans, which totaled $95 million at March 31, to "unrelated third parties" for an undisclosed price.

When the bank announced a letter of intent in February, it said the Miami investor group would buy the nonperforming loans for as much as $90 million. A U.S. Century spokeswoman on Wednesday declined to name the third-party buyers of the loans and said that U.S. Century had intended to sell those buyers the loans from the beginning.

The Miami investor group is led by James Tate of Tate Capital, a real estate fund, and real estate investor Sergio Rok. It also includes developer Jorge Perez, Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, and former Wachovia executive Carlos Migoya. Tate, Rok and Migoya are expected to join U.S. Century's board.

The $861 million-asset U.S. Century is one of the largest undercapitalized banks in the country. It had a Tier 1 leverage ratio of 5.21% and risk-based capital of 7.46% as of March 31, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. It has been selling loans to raise capital after calling off its sale to C1 Bank in December; the deal fell apart after C1 failed to reach an agreement with the Treasury Department over repaying U.S. Century's $50.3 million of Troubled Asset Relief Program aid. A U.S. Century spokeswoman said that the bank's Tarp repayment is under negotiation.

U.S. Century expects to close the deal by yearend, pending regulatory approval.

"We are excited about the opportunities that this investor group will offer U.S. Century Bank, but most importantly, we are very pleased that the bank will remain a local community bank with local ownership, leadership and operations," said U.S. Century Chairman Ramon Rasco. "These investors are all well-respected, local business leaders who know this community, and who are committed to continuing our mission of serving the banking needs of our community."