BankFinancial Unloads $22.7 Million in Troubled Assets

BankFinancial (BFIN) in Burr Ridge, Ill., has followed through on plans to cleanse its balance sheet of troubled assets.

The $1.5 billion-asset company announced Thursday it has sold nonperforming loans and foreclosed-upon real estate with a combined value of $22.7 million to unnamed buyers via two bulk sales.

The assets included $13 million in loans on commercial real estate, $7.4 million in multifamily loans and a $2.1 million loan for land. Loans for single-family homes made up the remainder of the sale, which is expected to result in the company's taking a pre-tax charge of roughly $11.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2012.

According to BankFinancial, the sales reduced the company's nonperforming multifamily loans by 49.5%, its nonperforming loans on commercial real estate by 39.5% and its loans on nonperforming land by 19.7%.

In a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in November, the company said its management was considering a "comprehensive plan to reduce nonperforming assets through accelerated dispositions during the fourth quarter of 2012."

The goal of the plan "would be to achieve a meaningful reduction of nonperforming loans and [real estate owned by the bank] by the end of 2012 such that the future potential impacts to earnings in 2013 and future years from credit-related costs are materially diminished," the company said in the filing.

BankFinancial said in a news release Thursday it would "continue to pursue resolutions of its remaining nonperforming and classified assets using resolution techniques appropriate for individual assets or asset types."

Troubled assets have been a drag on BankFinancial's profitability. The company's third-quarter loss of $5.2 million was 174% larger than its loss from a year earlier primarily as a result of spending to manage foreclosed-upon properties and nonperforming loans.