Florida

Operating a community bank in foreclosure-ravaged South Florida is challenging. Starting one just before the financial crisis hit is even more so.

Stonegate Bank in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said Tuesday it has agreed to buy Southwest Capital Bank in Fort Myers, Fla., for $9.4 million in an all-stock transaction.

Old Florida National Bank of Orlando and Mercantile Capital Corp. of Altamonte Springs, Fla., announced a deal in which Mercantile would become a subsidiary of Old Florida.

BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has given up its attempt to cash out its bondholders at a discount.

ShoreBank, the country's first community development bank, failed Friday night after months of struggling to find a way to stay afloat. However, it will continue in a different form.

BankUnited is planning an initial public offering 15 months after the Florida lender collapsed and was acquired by investors including Carlyle Group and WL Ross & Co., according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Sabadell United Bank has completed its merger with TransAtlantic Bank, making it the fourth-largest Florida bank based in Miami-Dade County.

BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., reported Wednesday that its second-quarter loss widened by 33% from a year earlier, to $51.3 million.

Florida is still a prime destination for Centennial Bank in Conway, Ark., even as well-heeled acquirers move in and drive up bank prices.

Five bank closures in four states Friday cost the federal government an additional $334 million in losses.

TIB Financial Corp. of Naples, Fla., said its net loss nearly tripled in the second quarter as it awaits a takeover by North American Financial Holdings Inc.

EverBank Financial Corp. in Jacksonville, Fla., has struck a deal to rename the local football stadium EverBank Field.

WASHINGTON — Federal and state regulators shut seven banks late Friday, pushing the failure total this year to 103. Though the pace of failures briefly slowed earlier this month, it appears to be picking up momentum again, as Friday's failures followed six last week.

North American Financial Holdings, a group formed by former Bank of America Vice Chairman Eugene Taylor, sealed deals to buy 3 failed banks in the Southeast late Friday.

Florida Bank Group Inc. said Thursday that it has agreed to acquire Anderen Financial Inc. The $843 million-asset parent company of Florida Bank will acquire Anderen, of Palm Harbor, Fla., with $150 million of assets, and its subsidiary, Anderen Bank, in an all-stock transaction.

Florida First City Banks Inc. said this week it had suspended an effort to raise up to $14 million after potential investors began backing away. Their reason: Worries about the potential consequences for banks as oil washes up on Panhandle beaches.

Sunrise Bank in Cocoa Beach, Fla., announced an agreement Thursday in which a group of three investors will inject $8.6 million into the bank.

Fueled by more than $400 million in capital, Bond Street pulled Miami's Premier American out of the rubble in January and leveraged it to make two other federally assisted deals, most recently grabbing the failed Peninsula Bank in Englewood last Friday.

Former Bank of America Corp. Vice Chairman R. Eugene Taylor has spent the past six months searching for a bank to buy — only to return to whence he came.

The $1.7 billion-asset company announced late Tuesday that North American Financial Holdings Inc., led by former Bank of America Corp. executive Eugene Taylor, would invest $175 million in the company so that it can shore up its undercapitalized bank unit.