Bank courts foreign customers

The rising dollar hasn't deterred at least one Gulf Coast bank from actively courting foreign investors.

William Sedgeman, the chairman of C1 Bank in St. Petersburg, recently discussed opportunities to make loans to foreign investors. A banker since the 1970s, Sedgeman spoke at a recent meeting of the Commercial Investment Professionals, a group of commercial real estate executives that meets in Fort Myers.

“Many times banks won't do them,” says Sedgeman. That's because loans to foreigners are difficult to sell in the secondary market. “We take those into our portfolios,” he says.

Sedgeman says the rising dollar hasn't affected demand for loans by foreigners. He says C1 finances loans to people from Europe, South America (except Argentina and Venezuela), Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Mexico. The bank lends up to 65% of loan-to-value on fixed terms for five years and then adjusts to the Libor index after that.

C1, beyond Sedgeman's presentation, has some international flair: Board member Marcelo Lima, one of the largest investors in the bank, is from Brazil and has multiple international contacts.

To help borrowers, C1 offers translation services to manage the documents and will also help set up a U.S. registered agent. The bank lends from $75,000 up to a maximum of $40 million per customer.

C1, which reported $1.5 billion in assets at the end of last year, has been in growth mode statewide. Sedgeman says one of the next expansion spots will be an office in Naples.