Iberiabank Buys Two U.S. Banks as Failure Toll Climbs to 123

Iberiabank Buys Two U.S. Banks as Failure Toll Climbs to 123


Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Iberiabank Corp., the Louisiana- based lender that exited a federal government assistance program this year, purchased two banks as the U.S. economy’s expansion fails to halt financial-firm collapses.

Iberiabank added $2.5 billion in deposits and 34 branches by acquiring Florida-based lenders Orion Bank and Century Bank, the company said in a statement. The southern Florida deals will boost earnings in coming years, Iberiabank said.

Orion and Century “possess very strong deposit market- share positions in five very attractive Florida” areas, Iberiabank Chief Executive Officer Daryl Byrd said yesterday in the statement.

Banks are failing at the fastest pace in 17 years even as the U.S. economy shows signs of pulling out of the recession. The world’s largest economy grew at a 3.5 percent annual pace in the third quarter, the first gain in more than a year, according to the Commerce Department. The number of failed banks reached 179 in 1992.

Iberiabank rose 64 cents to $44.40 in regular Nasdaq trading before the deals were announced. The Lafayette, Louisiana-based company has fallen 15 percent in the past year.

Sunwest Bank of Tustin, California, also purchased a failed bank in its home state yesterday, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which was named receiver for all three transactions. Sunwest assumed the $130.9 million in deposits and $134.4 million in assets at Pacific Coast National Bank of San Clemente, California.

Adding Bank Branches

Iberiabank boosted its number of branches to 204 in 11 U.S. states and added $3.1 billion in assets, the company said. It will share losses with the FDIC on abut $2.6 billion of assets. The bank will remain well-capitalized by regulatory standards, it said.

The acquisitions aren’t the first this year for the 122- year-old bank. The company took over CapitalSouth Bank and its $546 million of deposits in August.

Earlier this year, Iberiabank paid back $90 million it had taken as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The bank paid 46 cents on the dollar for the government’s warrants.

The three failures cost the FDIC’s deposit-insurance fund more than $980 million.

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