BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is heading west to try to drum up interest in its stock.
On Friday, the $3.8 billion-asset company announced that its head of investor relations, Leo Hinkley, will head to California next week to meet with prospective investors over a series luncheons and dinners in several cities, including Los Angeles, Pasadena, San Diego, and Santa Monica.
According to a news release Hinkley will give a corporate presentation at each stop that will be followed by a question-and-answer session. Reservations are required.
In June, BankAtlantic completed a rights offering that brought in $11 million.
Though short of the $30 million it had hoped to raise, that fresh capital, along with a $38.7 million gain from the sale of 19 branches in the Tampa Bay area to PNC Financial Services Group Inc., was enough to help the ailing company rebuild its capital base. The Office of Thrift Supervision had ordered BankAtlantic to have a leverage ratio of 8% and a total risk-based capital ratio of 14% by June 30. Those ratios were 8.24% and 14.52% at that period end.
Still, BankAtlantic remains under considerable stress. At June 30, nonperforming assets made up 10.57% of total assets.
Correction: An earlier version of this story implied that BankAtlantic's investor meetings were an attempt to raise new capital. BankAtlantic said that the meetings are unrelated any capital-raising activities.
