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Four bank failures book-ended the country on Friday. The four banks had a total of $1.05 billion in assets and are expected to cost the Deposit Insurance Fund $267.6 million collectively. So far, 22 institutions have failed so far this year.
February 21
SCBT Financial Corp. in Columbia, S.C., added $35 million in capital base to complement its acquisition last week of a failed bank.
The $3.6 billion-asset company announced a private placement after the market closed on Friday, along with its purchase of the failed Habersham Bank in Clarkesville, Ga., from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
SCBT agreed to buy the bank's $388 million in assets and assume its $340 million of deposits. The new equity was priced at $31 a share, a 4.6% discount to SCBT's closing stock price on Friday.
John Pollok, SCBT's chief operating officer, said in an interview that the company did not need to capital for the deal. It opted to raise capital since Habersham's balance sheet required an audit that could last up to 70 days and could limit SCBT from doing other deals.
