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Mercantile Bancorp once believed that its bank in sleepy Quincy, Ill. was not enough. Now, that bank might hold the key to the company's survival.
August 16
Mercantile Bancorp Inc. in Quincy, Ill., notified the NYSE Amex that it intends to voluntarily delist its common stock.
The $894 million-asset company also said in a press release Monday that it will terminate the registration of its common stock. Mercantile said it will begin the deregistration and delisting process on Nov. 28 with the delisting taking effect 10 days later. Mercantile's common stock would be removed from listing on Amex around Dec. 8. At that time, Mercantile's stock will not be quoted on any stock exchange, the company said.
"The costs and administrative burdens associated with being a public company have substantially increased in recent years," Lee R. Keith, the company's president and chief executive,, said in the release. "In light of the fact that the company does not intend to access the public capital markets in the foreseeable future for its financing needs and other relevant factors, for Mercantile the advantages of being a public reporting company are outweighed by those costs and burdens."
Mercantile has struggled recently; two of its banks were described as undercapitalized in August. Amex notified Mercantile in April that it did not meet the listing requirements for stockholder equity, losses from continuing operations and net losses in two of its three most recent fiscal years. In July, Mercantile submitted a plan to regain compliance with those requirements.
The company's common stock was trading at 39 cents a share midday Tuesday.
