As part of a broader effort to clear the decks for 2025 and sharpen its focus on its core South Florida footprint, Amerant Bancorp in Coral Gables sold a package of mortgages at a $12.6 million loss.
The $10.4 billion-asset Amerant disclosed in a regulatory filing late Friday that it sold 323 investment property, residential mortgage loans to Temple View Capital Funding and TVC Funding VII for about $58.8 million in cash. The loans had an outstanding principal balance of $71.4 million.
The sales followed several strategic moves late in 2024. During the third quarter, Amerant sold $551 million in securities with an average yield of 3.2%. It followed several banks that made similar moves last year with plans to reinvest proceeds into higher-yielding investments and loans to drive improved income in coming quarters.
Those sales involve near-term pain, however. Amerant's securities sale resulted in a pretax hit of $68.5 million. This led to a third-quarter earnings loss of $48.2 million.
Also in the third quarter, the company closed an offering of 8.68 million shares of its common stock at $19 per share, raising about $165 million.
In November, the bank
Amerant Chairman and CEO Jerry Plush said in a press release that such moves were part of doubling down on its growing Florida presence.
The changes allow "us to focus on accelerating growth in our core markets in Florida as we execute on our expansion plans in both the South Florida and Greater Tampa markets." The bank expanded into Tampa in 2022.
"I now don't have to focus on multiple states, multiple regions. We can focus right here, right now, and get things accomplished," Plush said in a
Chris Gorman and four other high-ranking KeyCorp executives have been granted a combined $16.7 million in performance-based equity awards that will vest in two years, as long as the Cleveland-based company meets certain capital requirements and earnings goals.
Amerant grew its assets by 37% from the end of 2020 to the third quarter of last year, in part by spreading its footprint outside of Florida. However, Plush said the company's plan for the near future is to focus on its backyard. The South Florida and Tampa markets are among the 20 fastest growing major metropolitan areas this decade, according to Census Bureau data.
Plush said Amerant is poised for both loan and deposit growth, and it is partnering with professional sports franchises to bolster its brand awareness and attract new clients.
Among other connections, Amerant is the official bank of the National Basketball Association's Miami Heat. In the National Hockey League, it owns naming rights to the Florida Panthers home venue, the Amerant Bank Arena. It also serves as the Panthers' official bank.
In Major League Baseball, the bank has ties to both the Tampa Rays and Miami Marlins. Amerant also serves as official bank of Fort Lauderdale United, South Florida's only professional women's soccer team.
While such ties are commonplace for large banks, they are relatively rare for community lenders.
Plush told American Banker the
"We have the halo effect of being able to align with these organizations that resonate across the state," Plush said.
"We have the good fortune of having a great relationship with the two baseball teams in the state. We have naming rights to one of the 30 [National Hockey League] arenas," he added. "The see-and-be-seen crowd that goes to the Amerant Lounge and all the Amerant branding where the Heat play — it's the same thing at the Amerant Vault at Amerant Bank Arena — It's a huge differentiator. People see it as a commitment to Florida."
