Secondary offering planned for Seacoast in Fla.

Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida and one of its investors, CapGen Capital Group III, are planning a secondary offering of the bank’s common stock.

Seacoast and CapGen did not disclose how many shares would be sold or how much could be raised in the offering. CapGen, which was a vocal critic of Seacoast’s management through part of last year, owns almost 20% of the bank.

The $4.5 billion-asset Seacoast said Tuesday in a press release that it will use its portion of the proceeds for general corporate purposes such as potential future acquisitions and organic growth.

The underwriters are expected to be granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 15% of the shares sold by the company and CapGen.

CapGen, a private-equity firm run by former Comptroller Eugene Ludwig, hammered Seacoast’s performance in a May letter sent to the company. It pushed the company to either improve results or consider finding a buyer.

Seacoast’s management also faced some pressure from Basswood Capital Management, which was eventually given a nonvoting observer board seat.