Green Bancorp in Houston is setting the stage for its biggest investors to cash out.
The $4.2 billion-asset company filed documents Wednesday to register about 15 million shares of common stock for three private equity firms — Friedman Fleischer & Lowe; Harvest Partners; and Pine Brook Road Partners — that invested in the company in April 2010. Green estimated that the shares could sell for as much as $22.03 each, raising a total of $331 million for the investors.
The investors would completely liquidate their holdings if they sold all of the shares registered.
Green also registered a variety of securities that it could eventually sell. The filing estimates that Green could raise up to $150 million over time.
Green, which held its initial public offering in 2014, created a task force last year to eliminate its energy exposure by shedding $277 million in oil and gas loans. The company has also been looking to rightsize its commercial real estate portfolio.
Total energy exposure at Sept. 30 was $71 million, or just 2.3% of total loans. It was a significant decrease from early 2016, when those credits made up nearly 9% of total loans. Management has also lowered Green’s ratio of CRE to total capital below 300%.
Green did not specify any plans for proceeds tied to securities it might sell.
