North American Financial files for $300M IPO

North American Financial Holdings Inc., a company formed in late 2009 to acquire distressed and failing banks in the Southeastern U.S., said on Friday that it is preparing a $300 million initial public offering.

• Credit Suisse, BofA Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs to underwrite the offering
• Company, led by the former vice chairman of Bank of America Corp , R Eugene Taylor
• Operates 82 branches in Florida, North and South Carolina and had a net interest income of $32.8 million for the quarter ended March 31

Former Bank of America Corp. Vice Chairman R. Eugene Taylor is the holding bank's CEO. He teamed up with other former Bank of America executives and a veteran Morgan Stanley research analyst in the wake of the financial crisis with plans to scoop up failed banks in Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. auctions and buy other troubled banks.

North American Financial, which is based in Miami, said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it intends to create a "mid-size regional bank" in the South.

Using $900 million raised in private stock sales to investors, the group has already acquired five bank chains and said it is in the middle of buying a sixth. North American intends to reorganize all the different banks under a "Capital Bank"-branded chain.

The IPO's proceeds will go toward more bank acquisitions.

North American said that counting the sixth bank acquisition, it has $7.2 billion in total assets, $4.4 billion in loans and $5.5 billion in total deposits.

Non-performing loans were $262.8 million as of March 31