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Contrary to recent news reports, Thomas Ray wants you and his sister to know he isn't leaving Florida.
The news involved a transaction with many moving parts that calls for Houston-based Encore Bancshares to sell its Florida banking operations. Recent headlines in newspapers across the state led readers to think that subsidiary Encore Bank was pulling out of Florida entirely.
But the Encore bankers aren't going anywhere.
Ray, the president of Encore's Florida operations, led a management buyout of four branches in Southwest Florida. He's not leaving, even though his worried sister who lives in the Florida Panhandle called him when she read the news. Ray alerted his clients before the deal was announced, but didn't inform his relatives.
Ray recently arranged the acquisition of National Bank of Southwest Florida in Port Charlotte, a small three-year-old bank, backed by investors including Cleveland entrepreneur Malachi Mixon III in a venture called Ovation Holdings.
Together, NBSF and Ovation will acquire the four Encore branches: two in Naples, one in Fort Myers and another in Sun City Center. Tampa-based Homebanc acquired Encore's two remaining branches in Pinellas. Terms were not disclosed and it could take another six months before all the regulatory and shareholder approvals are obtained to close the deal.
Ray's bank doesn't have a new name yet (he's entertaining ideas), but it will have about $230 million in assets when the deal is done. The new investors are bringing in $40 million in new capital, giving the bank plenty of regulatory cushion.
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