Gulf Coast bank stocks rally on news

The publicly traded stocks of two beleaguered Florida bank-holding companies in Naples, TIB Financial and Bank of Florida, surged earlier this week on news that former Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Hugh McColl is among a group of investors seeking to invest in Florida bank assets.

Bank of Florida (symbol: BOFL) rose 27% on Dec. 21 after Bloomberg reported that McColl and other investors of Charlotte, N.C.-based Falfurrias Capital Partners are raising as much as $600 million to invest in assets of Florida banks. Meanwhile, the stock of TIB Financial (symbol: TIBB) rose 33% the same day.

Bank of Florida is the parent of three banks by the same name in Tampa, Naples and Fort Lauderdale. TIB is the parent company of TIB Bank.