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Coffee Talk (Tampa)
Bank holds out for nice price
It was not six months ago that Glen W. Fausset, president of 1st National Bank & Trust, was stamping out speculation that the 19-year-old Bradenton bank would be sold.
"A sale is a one-time profit," Fausset told the Gulf Coast Business Review in March. "Our shareholders don't want to sell their investment because they're doing so well here."
As the saying goes, everything's for sale - at the right price.
A rich offer from a New Orleans bank holding company evidently changed the minds of Fausset and Francis I. "Rip" duPont III, 1st National Bank & Trust's chairman and chief executive.
Whitney Holding Corp. announced July 28 it is acquiring 1st National Bank & Trust's parent, First National Bancshares Inc., for $120 million, or $34.64 a share. The stock and cash transaction requires the approval of those heretofore satisfied shareholders.
The sale price is equal to an astonishing 4.6 times the tangible book value of First National. That figures out to be a 22% premium over the Bradenton bank's 4 p.m. closing price of $28.49 a share on the Nasdaq Small Cap Market on the afternoon before the sale was announced.
"Whitney practices community banking in each location it serves and is unlike some large remote institutions that do not seem to value local customers," duPont says in a Whitney news release announcing the deal.
It's worth noting duPont's pre-tax take from the sale should be about $6.3 million, based on duPont's holdings as of March 14.
DuPont, Fausset and Thomas P. Moseley, First National's executive vice president, are also eligible for additional payments, at the time of the scheduled closing of the deal early next year, for ending "certain compensation arrangements," according to regulatory filings.
First National, with $360 million in assets, would be Whitney's third Florida acquisition. The Louisiana bank, which has $8.9 billion in assets spread across five southern states, picked up Palm Harbor-based Madison BancShares Inc. last year.
Well represented
It appears the local real estate industry, for the most part, applauds the recent appointment of Pinellas County Commissioner Bob Stewart to the Florida Impact Fee Review Task Force. This is the 15-member committee the Legislature created earlier this year when it enacted changes to Florida's growth management laws. State House Speaker Allan Bense appointed him.
It's generally perceived among commercial and residential builders that Stewart tried to balance the industry and citizen demands in his role as chairman of the Pinellas Transportation Impact Fee Task Force.
The Legislature directed the state committee to survey local government use of impact fees as a financing tool for infrastructure needs. The committee also will suggest any recommendations in a Feb. 1 report to the governor and the Legislature about how to pay for growth's demand on roads, water and sewer and other public services.
The Gulf Coast region is well represented on the committee. Four of the 15 committee members live in west-central Florida. In addition to Stewart, committee members include Sarasota Commissioner Jon Thaxton, Plant City Commissioner Rick Lott and Frank O'Reilly, a member of the Polk County School Board.
It also includes two Southwest Florida members with strong ties to the homebuilding industry. They are Dan Delisi, planning director at Bonita Springs's Bonita Bay Group, a developer of master-planned communities; and Al Zichella, general communities director Naples' Elias Brothers Communities.
John Delaney, University of North Florida president, serves as the committee chairman.
McEwen gets official OK
As expected, Catherine Peek McEwen has received the official approval of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to become Tampa's next bankruptcy judge. She'll be sworn in Aug. 22, replacing Thomas E. Baynes Jr. who retired in March after 17 years on the bench.
McEwen, who has 22 years experience as a lawyer, will be appointed to a 14-year term.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida, is one of the busiest in the nation with eight bankruptcy judges and annual filings of about 52,000.
All's well?
Talking about Tampa bankruptcy court: It might be one of the busiest in the nation, but business has been slowing down there over the past couple years.
For the 2004 calendar year, there were 51,736 bankruptcy filings, or 3,442 less than the previous year, according to statistics for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida. And through June of this year, filings were down by four from the first six months of 2004.
New bank on schedule
The first bank based in south Hillsborough County in almost a decade is on track to begin business next month.
SouthShore Community Bank expects to take its first deposits in Apollo Beach Sept. 12. The organization of the bank was the subject of a front-page report in the Tampa Bay edition of the Gulf Coast Business Review in May.
Larry R. Tracy, president and chief executive of SouthShore, announced last month that the proposed bank had reached its minimum capital requirement of $8 million.
The bank's officers, directors and sales agent will spend August lining up another $2 million, most likely from institutional investors. They would like to have the maximum $10 million on the books before opening the doors to customers in late summer.
SouthShore executives have received conditional approval to open from both state and federal regulators.
'Real-Time Enterprise'
Are you ready for extreme competition as the "great 21st century business reformation" takes place? Look no further than the "Titans of Technology."
Peter Fingar, author of "The Real-Time Enterprise: Competing on Time," and "Business Process Management: The Third Wave," will discuss the next big thing in business, driven by the emergence of a wired, flat world, three billion new capitalists and a new breed of software at the Sept. 14 meeting of the Tampa Bay Technology Forum. It begins at 9 a.m. at the EpiCenter Collaborative Labs, 13805 58th St., N., Largo.
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