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Randy Dennis Quoted in “Bank acquires another lender; Move buoys its Florida profile”
Saturday, November 20, 2010Arkansas Democrat | Saturday, November 20, 2010
by David Smith
LITTLE ROCK — Home BancShares bought its sixth failed bank from federal regulators Friday, the Conway-based owner of Centennial Bank said.
The bank bought Gulf State Community Bank of Carrabelle, Fla. The purchase strengthens Home BancShares Inc.’s position in the Florida Panhandle. Home BancShares now has the largest market share in two panhandle counties, Franklin and Wakulla.
Gulf State has about $112 million in assets and five branches.
Home BancShares now owns more than 20 branches from Panama City to Tallahassee and a total of 48 branches in Florida.
The lender has made more failed-bank acquisitions than any other bank in the country this year. All are in Florida.
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The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. agreed to accept 80 percent of any losses incurred on $84 million of Gulf State’s assets and Home BancShares is responsible for 20 percent of any losses.
The economy in the panhandle is growing, and the unemployment rate there is well below the Florida average, Randy Sims, Home BancShares’ chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement.
The purchase will be immediately profitable to Home BancShares, John Allison, Home BancShares’ chairman, said in an interview.
Allison said that last year, Home BancShares had anticipated buying one large bank from the FDIC with about $2 billion or $2.5 billion in assets.
“But it didn’t happen for us that way,” Allison said. “So we have just picked them up at $400 million, $300 million, $200 million and $100 million [in assets].”
Home BancShares’ assets have grown from $2.7 billion in assets on Dec. 31 to about $3.7 billion in assets now.
Friday’s acquisition gives Home BancShares about $74 million in loans, deposits of about $100 million and investment securities of about $11 million.
The purchase fills in some pieces of the Florida panhandle market, said Randy Dennis, president of DD&F Consulting Group, a bank consulting firm in Little Rock. Dennis advised Home BancShares on the purchase.
“It gives them a much better market position in some of those panhandle communities,” Dennis said.
The other failed banks Home BancShares bought this year include Wakulla Bank of Crawfordsville, in October; Coastal Community Bank of Panama City and Bayside Savings Bank in Port Saint Joe, Fla., both in July; and Old Southern Bank of Orlando and Key West Bank, both in March.
Home BancShares also has owned Marine Bank in the Florida Keys for five years.
This article was published November 20, 2010 at 3:39 a.m.
Business, Pages 31 on 11/20/2010
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