Capital Bank is seeking to raise more than $100 million to shore up its finances, make new loans as the economy recovers and pay for future expansion.
The Raleigh-based community bank scrapped a plan earlier this year to raise $55 million to finance acquisitions, citing poor market conditions. In March, the company raised $8.5 million from private investors.
This morning the bank filed plans to sell 34.5 million new shares on Wall Street. The final amount raised will depend on how much investors are willing to pay.
The bank's stock, which has lost more than half its value in the past year, fell 93 cents to $2.58 this morning.
As with other lenders during the recession, Capital has been hurt by failed loans and a weakening real-estate market. The company also reported this morning a second-quarter net loss of $14.2 million, compared with net income of $762,000 in the same period a year ago.
But the bank has written off or sold most of its troubled loans, said CEO B. Grant Yarber.
"We took a haircut," he said. "We structured Capital Bank to weather a two-year recession. A lot of very strong and capable borrowers could not hold on."
Now, "there is ample opportunity to make good loans to commercial, industrial and small business customers, as well as consumers," he added. "There are a lot of community banks that are not in the lending mode."
Capital Bank has 32 branches, mostly in and around the Triangle.
