CertusBank, a South Carolina lender run by former Bank of America Corp. and Wachovia Corp. executives, acquired two shuttered Georgia lenders and Columbia Banking System Inc. (COLB) bought one in Washington as property price declines continue to imperil community banks.
Columbia Banking, the $4.3 billion lender based in Tacoma, Washington, purchased Summit Banking Co., and CertusBank bought Macon-based Atlantic Southern Bank and First Georgia Banking Co., of Franklin, according to statements yesterday on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. website. The three failures drained $445.7 million from the FDIC deposit-insurance fund.
“We’re truly excited for CertusBank to extend its presence into Georgia and northeast Florida,” Milton H. Jones Jr., CertusBank’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement. “Our footprint covers some of the most economically diverse and promising cities in the country, and we look forward to being an integral part of the communities we serve.”
Banks are closing under stress from commercial real estate loans, tied to property values that fell as much as 45 percent from the October 2007 peak through last August, according to Moody’s Investors Service. More than 360 lenders have been closed since the start of 2008, including 43 this year, the FDIC said.
Columbia Banking purchased more than $142 million in assets from Burlington’s Summit Banking, which was closed by state regulators, the FDIC said. Columbia paid a 0.75 percent premium for more than $130 million in deposits.
$1.4 Billion: CertusBank, of Easley, South Carolina, picked up more than $1.4 billion in deposits when Georgia banking officials closed First Georgia and Atlantic Southern, according to the FDIC. With the acquisitions, CertusBank has $1.8 billion in assets and at least 32 branches, including 25 in Georgia, six in South Carolina and one in Florida, according to the statement and FDIC data.
CertusBank is owned by Blue Ridge Holdings Inc., which is run by Jones and was seeking $1 billion to buy failed banks last year. The group bought CommunitySouth Bank & Trust of Easley in January. Jones retired from Bank of America in September 2009 as Georgia market president.
Blue Ridge’s organizers also included Edward Brown III, former president of corporate and investment banking at Bank of America; Walter Davis, former executive vice president of retail credit and direct lending at Wachovia, and Charles Williams, former chief administrative officer of Bank of America’s capital markets unit.