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BB&T Corp.'s unusual deal to extract the most valuable parts of BankAtlantic shows how inventive dealmakers can get a leg up on their rivals in the topsy-turvy merger market.
November 1
What do you do when you get out of the banking business? Go into retirement in Florida, of course.
That's just what BFC Financial Corp., which is in
BFC, of Fort Lauderdale, said Monday that it would purchase outright Bluegreen Corp., a Boca Raton company that brokers sales of timeshare properties and manages resorts.
BankAtlantic owns 52% of Bluegreen's common stock and will own all of it if the deal closes as expected in the first half, according to a press release.
The deal values Bluegreen at about $143 million, based on the terms of all-stock deal, according to Reuters.
Bluegreen stockholders would get eight shares of BFC's Class A common stock for each of their shares.
BFC owns 53% of the Class A common shares of BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc., the bank holding company that agreed Nov. 2 to sell its 78-branch banking operations (minus $623 million of questionable loans) to BB&T Corp. of Winston-Salem, N.C.
It's not too hard to guess where BFC's principals might celebrate the deals once they go through. BCF's third major holding after Bluegreen and BankAtlantic is a minority stake in the restaurant chain Benihana Inc.
