Port of call

Longtime Florida banker Hal Roberts tries to treat banking industry gatherings like something bigger than a schmooze fest.

“But sometimes you bump into people,” says Roberts, “and you get to like certain people.”

The president and COO of Indiantown-based Harbor Community Bank, Roberts bumped into Bradenton bankers Dan Hager and Allen Langford at a Florida Bankers Association conference in West Pam Beach late last year. Hager is chairman and CEO of Bradenton-based First America Bank, where Langford is president. Those initial friendly chats sparked more conversations and lunches with board members at both banks, dialogue that culminated in October when Harbor Community acquired First America.

“That's how a lot of deals in banking are done, starting with who you know,” says Roberts. “First America is a very clean bank with great potential in the Bradenton-Sarasota market.”

The deal, beyond the relationship-generated genesis, is significant for other reasons. For one, after the transaction closes, likely in the second quarter of 2015, the only community lender left with a Manatee County headquarters will be Parrish-based 1st Manatee Bank. Pre-recession, in 2007, there were five community banks based in Manatee County.

“To be a community bank in today's regulatory environment is very difficult,” says Hager, named Harbor Community Florida West Coast market president. “This deal allows us to provide better returns to shareholders.”

The acquisition is also more proof of a burgeoning trend: Smaller banks statewide, squeezed by regulatory costs, problematic legacy loans and stricter capital requirements, are in sell mode. Fort Lauderdale-based Stonegate Bank and Conway, Ark.-based Home Bancshares, through its Centennial Bank subsidiary, are two of the more prominent lenders that have recently bought smaller peers across Florida.

Terms of the Harbor Community-First America acquisition weren't disclosed. First America, founded in 2004, has five locations and ranks fourth for banks based in Florida in deposit market share in the Manatee-Sarasota region, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data. The bank, with $261.2 million in assets through Sept. 30, also has a loan production office in Lee County.

Harbor Community will have around $1.4 billon in assets and 37 branches or loan production offices spread through at least a dozen Florida counties when the First America deal closes. “We see ourselves as a Florida community bank,” says Roberts. “We find that a personal relationship is the best way to compete.”

The size of Harbor Community, a subsidiary of HCBF Holding Company Inc., belies how new the bank is: Roberts and his partners — including Harbor Chairman and CEO Mike Brown Sr., Chief Lending Officer Mike Brown Jr. and CFO Randall Ezell — founded the bank in 2011. Previous colleagues at Fort Pierce-based Harbor Federal Savings Bank, the founders raised $329 million among the board of directors and outside investors to launch Harbor Community.

The bankers, who sold Harbor Federal to National City Bank in 2006, have since put that money toward a string of acquisitions statewide. The list includes First Bank of Indiantown in Martin County; Putnam State Bank in Palatka, which regulators shuttered in 2012; Grand Bank & Trust branches along the Treasure Coast; the Bank of St. Augustine; Highlands Independent Bank; Popular Community Bank branches in Greater Orlando; and First America.

Harbor Community, says Roberts, will likely have more acquisition announcements in 2015. “I think the economy, while it's not as robust as it I'd like it to be, is improving,” Roberts says. “We are very positive on growth and development in Florida.”

Follow Mark Gordon on Twitter @markigordon