A well-known group of Texas bankers and business leaders is looking to raise $100 million to open a banking company in Dallas.
The company, Texas Capital Bancshares, would be headed by Joseph M. Grant, the former chairman and chief executive officer of Texas American Bancshares who is spearheading the fund-raising effort for the new company. Texas Capital's plan would then be to buy eight-month-old Resource Bank of North Dallas, change its name to Texas Capital Bank and move the headquarters to downtown Dallas on Sept. 30.
With $100 million of capital, Texas Capital would be able to lend up to $15 million to a single customer and support at least $1 billion of assets. Its lending limit would far exceed that of $11 million-asset Resource.
"Every day we have referrals from someone who wants our type of service, but with a lending limit of $650,000, we can't meet their needs," said David Cargill, Resource's president and an executive-to-be of Texas Capital Bank.
Mr. Grant, chairman and CEO of Texas Capital Bancshares, is Resource's largest shareholder. He said he believes Texas Capital Bank will appeal to midsize companies that would rather do business with a homegrown bank.
"Most banks that could lend up to $15 million have been bought by out- of-state banks," said Mr. Grant. "But there is still a sentiment for a Texas-owned, Texas-managed bank."
The organizers are all well-known names in Texas banking circles. Mr. Grant headed Texas American Bancshares until it was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 1989. In March, he retired as senior vice president and chief financial officer of Plano, Tex.-based EDS Corp.
Theodore H. Strauss, who would become chairman of Texas Capital Bancshares's executive committee, has headed two Dallas banks in his career and is now senior managing director of Bear, Stearns & Co.
George F. Jones Jr., who would become president of Texas Capital Bank, headed North Park National Corp. until it merged with Comerica Inc. in 1993.
Mr. Strauss introduced the Texas Capital Bancshares concept to 1,000 local investors at a cocktail party Monday. The organizers said they expect 250 to 500 people to invest in the project.
Once Texas Capital Bank is up and running, Mr. Grant said, it hopes to add branches in Dallas and break into the Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio markets.
He said it also plans to team up with EDS to create an Internet branch so Texas Capital can take in deposits nationwide.
"Exposure on the Internet is the future," he said.
