Yadkin Valley in N.C. Prepares for Potential Tarp Auction

The Treasury Department has not said if it intends to auction off more stakes it owns in community banks, but Yadkin Valley Financial (YAVY) in Elkin, N.C., wants to be ready in case it does.

The $2 billion-asset company said Thursday that it has filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to register for resale the preferred shares it issued to the Treasury as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Yadkin Valley's Chief Financial Officer Jan H. Hollar said Friday that it did so because it is believed that the shares have to be registered for resale if they are sold at auction to private investors.

Yadkin Valley issued roughly $49.3 million worth of stock to the Treasury Department in two separate transactions in January and July of 2009

The Treasury last month auctioned off its preferred shares in six community banks as part of a broader effort to unwind its Tarp investments. The agency has not said if it plans to conduct more options in the future, but Yadkin Valley said it would be "prudent" to register the potential resale "to be ready for such an event,"

"We are filing at this time given the current activity we've seen from Treasury regarding Tarp shares," Joe Towell, Yadkin Valley's president and chief executive, said in a news release. "This allows us to be ready should an opportunity be made available to us."