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ATLANTA BUSINESS CHRONICLE
July 13-19, 2012 • Page 9A
Two banks lend $10M to building supply firm
A deal that closed this month combines credit facility to Southwest Georgia
Ethanol LLC, which operates a plant near
two elements of Georgia’s economy that
Camilla producing 100 million gallons of
haven’t seen much positive action lately.
corn ethanol per year.
Two banks joined forces to
That financing was to help
extend a new credit line to a
the company stabilize its
building materials company in
cash flow despite volatility
Warner Robins, despite little
signs of a major turnaround in
in corn prices. It buys some
that market anytime soon.
corn from Georgia growers,
AloStar Bank of Commerce
and ships some in from
and Morris Bank, based in
Midwest.
INANCIAL theAloStar
Dublin, each put in $5 million
does asset-based
to lend to Warner Robins
lending to midsized busiAGE
Supply Co.
nesses with revenues from
Kat Greene
The company is a 65-year$20 million to $300 million.
old materials seller in its hometown, with
locations in Middle and North Georgia
BANK CAPITAL RAISE. A North
and North Carolina. Almost all of its
Georgia bank is sticking its toe in the
business is through residential and
capital markets to raise money.
First Chatsworth Bancshares Inc. is
commercial contractors, but it says it has
looking to raise more than $3 million from
seen a pickup in business this year.
Sales were up 8 percent in the first
the equity markets. The bank holding
quarter of this year from a year earlier.
company filed for the capital raise July 10.
The company has launched an aggresThe bank was formerly called First
sive turnaround plan.
National Bank of Chatsworth, but
AloStar focuses on asset-based lending
changed its name to First National
to commercial clients, and it partners
Community Bank on July 5, according to
with community banks to open up
the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
financing options.
With $129 million in assets, it’s a small
AloStar is based in Birmingham, Ala.,
bank by most standards. And it’s slightly
though it does a solid piece of its busismaller now than a year ago, when it had
ness in Georgia and the Atlanta area.
$134 million in assets.
It recently lent $20 million in a revolving
In that same period, its deposits rose.
projects when it was picked up by Ernst
& Young.
One of the Big Four accounting firms
with an office tower in downtown Atlanta,
Ernst & Young is one of the largest
private companies in the U.S.
It has $118 million now, up from
$117 million a year ago.
The bank lies in the area of Georgia hit
hardest by the banking crisis that has
forced hundreds of Georgia institutions
to shut down and be taken over.
The bank holding company raised
$9 million in a stock sale in January 2011,
at the peak of the crisis, signaling that
investors aren’t concerned about the
company’s health.
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ACCOUNTING FIRM BUY. Tax and
consulting giant Ernst & Young LLP has
acquired Jeffrey A. Parker & Associates
Inc. to form a new unit.
The Philadelphia-based advisory
firm is working with Georgia on the
redevelopment of 120 acres of downtown
Atlanta and a multimodal transportation
complex.
Mike Parker, the financial advisory’s
namesake’s son, will head up Ernst &
Young Infrastructure Advisors LLC,
which will absorb the entirety of the
smaller firm.
Its immediate clients include the state
of Georgia, New York State, and The Port
Authority of New York & New Jersey.
Its project in Atlanta is “The Gulch,” a
development near the CNN Center and
The Georgia Dome.
Parker’s firm had $15 billion in current
NEW LAW FIRM. A group of family
lawyers in Atlanta have joined together to
form a new firm.
Hedgepeth, Heredia,
Crumrine & Morrison
LLC just launched.
Its partners are Jon
Hedgepeth, Hannibal
Heredia, Rebecca
Crumrine and Wayne
Morrison.
Crumrine
Hedgepeth and
Hedgepeth, Heredia,
Heredia have had a firm
Crumrine &
Morrison LLC
together since 2006.
The other two partners left their positions as shareholders at
Davis, Matthews & Quigley P.C. to form the
new, larger firm.
The firm’s focus is on family law, which
includes divorce and separation, custody,
support, property division, and paternity
suits, among other areas.
-N
ot
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If you have news for Financial Page,
contact Kat Greene at (404) 249-1078
or at [email protected].
Coral Gables financial
company planning IPO
Coral Gables-based Capital Bank
Financial Corp. has filed plans for
its private shareholders to cash out,
potentially to the tune of $697 million,
should the company launch its
public offering.
The banking company, formerly
known as North American Financial
Holdings, announced plans for
the IPO in June 2011, saying it could
raise up to $300 million in capital
by issuing new shares. That would
give it an even larger war chest
of cash to buy up banks in the
Southeast.
The company — which is seeking
sin
es
sJ
ou
rn
The state of Florida was represented
by the top three spots. Indian River
Shores in Indian River County, where
87.6 percent of households having
sources of passive income, and Pelican
Bay in Collier County, at 81.1 percent,
surpassed South Beach.
— South Florida Business Journal
Bu
Raleigh’s KnowledgeTree
raises $4.75 million
ty
Bank of America recognized
by J.D. Power and Associates
eri
Renaissance Fort Lauderdale
hotel in $40M foreclosure
In the largest South Florida hotel
foreclosure launched this year, the
Renaissance Fort Lauderdale Cruise
Port Hotel was hit with a $40 million
foreclosure lawsuit.
The 236-room hotel was built in 2002.
It carries the Marriott flag and is owned
by an affiliate of Norwalk, Conn.-based
HEI Hospitality.
Wells Fargo Bank, representing a
commercial mortgage-backed securities
(CMBS) trust, filed the foreclosure
lawsuit on June 26 against HEI Fort
Lauderdale, Marriott International and
Merritt Hospitality. Its $40 million
mortgage was issued in 2007.
According to data from CMBS analysis
firm Trepp LLC, the loan matured on
June 15.
— South Florida Business Journal
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has
been recognized for call-center operation
customer-satisfaction excellence under
the J.D. Power and Associates Call
Center Certification Program.
The Call Center Certification Program
distinction acknowledges a strong
commitment by BofA Merrill’s service
call-center operations to provide
outstanding customer service.
BofA Merrill is the global banking and
global markets division of Charlottebased Bank of America Corp. The unit
was recently named a Model Bank for
2012 by Celent, a financial-services
research and consulting firm.
— Orlando Business Journal
South Beach is No. 3 for
reliance on passive income
Few Florida homeowners opt
for free foreclosure review
South Beach ranks third in the nation
for the percentage of households
deriving income from interest, dividend
or rent, also known as passive income,
according to an On Numbers analysis of
U.S. Census Bureau data.
The Internal Revenue Service defines
passive income as “trade or business
activities in which a (a taxpayer does)
not materially participate.”
Of the 1,618 households in South Beach,
1,259, or 77.8 percent, have sources of
passive income.
Only 3 percent of the 625,919 Florida
homeowners contacted about a free
foreclosure review have taken advantage
of the federal program.
The Palm Beach Post reported that
the Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency sent out letters to eligible
homeowners notifying them that any
misconduct found during the foreclosure
review could result in a fix, ranging
from a credit report correction to
$125,000.
— South Florida Business Journal
SPECIAL
ca
n
Ci
Raleigh-based KnowledgeTree Inc. is
closing on a $4.75 million Series B round
that should help the company grow to
150 employees in the next four years.
Most of those employees will be located
in Raleigh.
With just over 20 combined current
employees in both Cape Town, South
Africa, and its Raleigh headquarters,
the company creates cloud-based tools
that help companies manage business
documents. Clients include French telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent
and Vanderbilt University.
The round includes investments from
Raleigh-based River Cities Capital
Funds, Washington, D.C.-based Core
Capital Partners and Raleigh-based
Hatteras Funds.
— Triangle Business Journal
Am
Citibank has hired 200 new employees
and plans to hire an additional 200 at its
Southside Jacksonville campus.
Jerry Mallot, president of JaxUSA
Partnership, said Citibank started the
hiring process a few months ago and
should finish the remainder in the next
few months. The hirings were announced
July 2.
The positions will range from back
office to underwriting, according to a
JaxUSA Partnership news release.
A Citibank representative confirmed
the hiring plans, but said company policy
is not to divulge specifics, including
salary details.
Mallot said JaxUSA would classify
them as “very good jobs.” He said they
have a wide range of skills and pay levels.
Citibank is the 40th-largest bank in
northeast Florida with $11.2 million in
area deposits.
— Jacksonville Business Journal
to buy Winston-Salem-based Southern
Community Financial Corp. — last
updated its IPO plans in May, and still
hasn’t announced a date or a share price.
It would be listed on the Nasdaq with the
ticker symbol “CBF.”
— The Triad Business Journal
©
Citibank adds 400 jobs
in Jacksonville
als
S OU T H E A ST E R N F I NA NCI A L R OU N DU P
Foreclosure: Renaissance Fort
Lauderdale Cruise Port Hotel was hit
with a $40 million foreclosure lawsuit.