U.S. Century Sells Three Mortgages for $30 Million

The country's largest undercapitalized bank, U.S. Century Bank of Doral, Fla., raised $30 million in December through the sale of three loans, according to a report in the South Florida Business Journal.

The sale will inject much-needed capital into the bank following the collapse of its planned merger with C1 Bank of St. Petersburg, Fla. The deal, first announced in August, was called off last month after the companies failed to receive necessary approvals to complete it. Under a revised agreement C1 will instead acquiring certain real estate assets from the $1.2 billion-asset U.S. Century.

Approximately 22% of U.S. Century's loans were nonperforming as of Sept. 30, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and as of November the bank still owed approximately $50 million to the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Only one of the three loans U.S. Century sold in December is in foreclosure.  The largest of the three mortgages, a $25.6 million property on 76 acres of farmland in Homestead, Fla., was bought by the homebuilder Lennar Corp, according to the report.

The other two mortgages U.S. Century sold were a $2.6 million loan on an apartment complex in Homestead, which is in foreclosure, and a $1.8 million loan on a vacant lot in Davie, Fla.

In an emailed statement to American Banker, U.S. Century said that reducing its level of classified loans was a key focus in 2012. "During the last quarter, we were successful at reducing these considerably. We will continue to focus on reducing these throughout this year as we work on increasing the bank's capital," the statement said.