Former bank CEO in line for $35M payday after sale

ST. PETERSBURG — The $402.5 million sale of C1 Bank, which closed July 21, paid off well for several investors and executives.

Little Rock, Ark.-based Bank of the Ozarks, in one of the largest recent bank acquisitions in Florida, bought St. Petersburg-based C1 for what was about $25 per share. C1, founded in 1995 in Manatee County, when it was named Community Bank of Manatee, has been one of the fastest-growing banks in the region over the last five years. Brazilian investor Marcello Lima and several partners, including onetime Morgan Stanley executive Trevor Burgess, invested more than $15 million into the bank in 2009, when community banks in Florida struggled with capital reserves.

The public face and CEO of C1 the last five years, Burgess is eligible to receive at least $35 million in the deal, according to new Securities and Exchange filings. Burgess, who will stay on with the bank as chief innovation officer, will receive $3.3 million in a change of control agreement, documents show. He also owns 1.26 million shares of the bank, worth $31.6 million.

Lima scored an even larger return. His shares of C1, according to the SEC documents, are worth $86.1 million. Erwin Russell, a Brazilian businessman and partner with Lima in several deals, has $46.8 million in shares, the SEC documents show, and Marcio Camargo, another foreign businessman, has $36.97 million in shares.

Several other C1 officials potentially received smaller payouts, according to the filings. The list includes:
• Phillip Burghardt, a C1 board member since 2013 and an entrepreneur who ran an electric contracting business, has $4.57 million in shares;
• Neil Grossman, a C1 board member since 2012 who previously ran a proprietary trading group at JPMorgan Chase, has $3.41 million in shares;
• Rita Lowman, COO at C1 Bank since 2011, has $3.09 million in shares;
• Alan Rudolph, an executive vice president and senior lender with C1, who was recently named Florida division president for Bank of the Ozarks, has $436,975 in shares;
• Longtime Manatee County area banker Bill Sedgeman, who founded Community Bank in 1995, holds $215,200 in shares;
• Onetime Florida gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink, who previously ran the Florida division for Bank of America and joined C1's board in 2013, has $233,700 in shares.