Capitol Bancorp Ltd. has completed another divestiture — this time of its 51% stake in the $64 million-asset USNY Bank in Geneva, N.Y.
The $4.7 billion-asset company, which has headquarters in Lansing, Mich., and Phoenix, announced in March it was selling the stake for an undisclosed amount. The transaction's close was announced Monday.
The sale is part of a strategy to shed banks as a way to boost capital that has been eroded by credit losses.
Since April 2009, Capitol has announced 14 divestitures, with half of them closed, including USNY.
Still, Capitol was significantly undercapitalized at June 30, with a leverage ratio of 2.39% and a total risk-based capital ratio of 6.38%.
