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The "dream team" of bankers who set up Greenville, S.C.-based CertusBank attracted half a billion dollars from hedge funds to buy failed banks. Lately, the focus has shifted to big losses, lavish spending and payments to a consulting firm owned by top executives.
March 27 -
Charles M. Williams, co-chief executive of CertusBank, has quit the Greenville, S.C., company amid allegations of gross mismanagement.
April 1 -
The Greenville, S.C., company hired John Poelker as interim CEO and ousted its top executives less than two weeks after allegations of financial mismanagement surfaced. Poelker, known for stabilizing struggling banks, could be tasked with cleaning Certus up for a buyer.
April 10 -
The troubled Greenville, S.C., bank lost $15 million in the second quarter, its first quarterly results since a new management team replaced the three founders who were fired in April. Moreover, local NAACP leaders have raised concerns about the firings, which they say sent a toxic message to the local African-American community.
July 31 -
Nearly six months after some CertusBank investors demanded a total management overhaul, the Greenville, S.C., company elected six new board members at an annual meeting last week. Yet investors remain very concerned about the company's ongoing losses and capital levels, new Chairman John Poelker says.
August 14 -
CertusBank in Greenville, S.C., has agreed to sell its mortgage and wealth businesses as it tries to move past its history of high expenses and heavy losses.
September 15 -
CertusBank in Greenville, S.C., lost nearly $70 million last year.
February 2
CertusBank in Greenville, S.C., is setting the stage to liquidate itself after agreeing to sell or close all of its remaining branches.
The $1.4 billion-asset bank said in a press release Monday that it will sell most of its Georgia and Florida branches to Community & Southern Bank in Atlanta. Community & Southern said in a separate release that it will gain $764 million in deposits and $230 million in loans, along with entry into Jacksonville, Fla., and the Georgia cities of Columbus and Macon.
Certus will also sell branches, deposits and loans in the Georgia cities of Savannah and Rincon to Queensborough National Bank and Trust in Louisville, Ga. A branch in Warner Robins, Ga., along with $62 million in deposits and $3 million in loans, will be sold to Morris Bank in Dublin, Ga.
BNC Bancorp in High Point, N.C., agreed to buy seven branches, along with $284 million in deposits and $210 million in loans, in South Carolina. The $4.2 billion-asset BNC said in a separate release and
Certus said it will close its branches in Ponte Vedra, Fla., and the South Carolina cities of Columbia and Charleston. The company will also shutter its branch in downtown Greenville, where the bank also had a nearly $1 million art collection, an office suite with 300,000 pennies affixed to the ceiling, and a 13-foot touch-screen "media wall."
The branch sales are expected to close in the third and fourth quarters.
"I'd like to thank our customers who have entrusted us with their relationship," Len Davenport, who recently became Certus' president and chief executive after
Certus said in its release that it maintains strong liquidity, adding that its bank operations will continue normally as it works to dispose of the branches.
The bank has been
Poelker was hired after Certus fired its founders last April. The company was founded in 2011 to buy failed banks, but disappointed its backers after recording pretax losses of more than $100 million in 2012 and 2013. The company also lost nearly $70 million last year.
In addition to its losses, Certus faces uncertainty due to last year's firing of its three founders, Milton Jones, Walter Davis and Angela Webb, who were terminated weeks after an American Banker article focusing on the bank's
Shortly after being terminated, Jones, Davis and Webb
Troutman Sanders and Banks Street Partners advised BNC. Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough and Sandler O'Neill advised Certus for the sale of the South Carolina branches. Bryan Cave and Banks Street represented Morris Bank in its negotiations. Barclays and Alston & Bird represented Community & Southern.
