BankAtlantic Terminates Planned Stock Sale

BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc. (BBX) of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said Thursday that it has canceled plans for a potential capital raise after reaching a new deal to sell its thrift to BB&T Corp. (BBT)

In February, a Delaware court blocked the original deal between the $3.7 billion-asset BankAtlantic and BB&T of Winston-Salem, N.C., on the grounds that it was unfair to BankAtlantic's bondholders.

Then earlier this month BB&T and BankAtlantic reached a new agreement. Under this second deal, BB&T would assume BankAtlantic's obligations to bondholders of about $285 million of trust preferred securities. The $164.8 billion-asset BB&T would also receive a 95% preferred interest in a newly established entity that will hold a $423 million pool of loans and $17 million of other assets.

BB&T would also acquire roughly $2.1 billion of loans and about $3.3 billion of deposits based on Sept. 30 balances. It will pay a premium equal to 9% of total deposits at Sept. 30.

After the deal closes, BankAtlantic plans to operate as an asset management company in the near term and transition into specialty finance, Alan Levan, BankAtlantic's chairman and chief executive, said Thursday in a news release.

BankAtlantic had announced in February before the first deal fell through that it could possibly sell an unspecified amount of common stock to ensure it maintained capital requirements. The company has to maintain a Tier 1 core capital ratio of 8% and a total risk-based capital ratio of 14%. At Dec. 31, BankAtlantic had a Tier 1 core capital ratio of 8.22% and a total risk-based ratio of 15.15%.

BankAtlantic also reported on Thursday that in the fourth quarter it lost $17.5 million, compared with a loss of $46.3 million a year earlier. For 2011, the company lost $28.7 million, compared with $143.3 million a year earlier.