South Financial may convert shares to common

In an effort to provide stability TSFG considers turning over partial ownership to government

DECEMBER 17, 2009 4:23 p.m. (0)

The South Financial Group is considering asking the U.S. Treasury to convert some its $347 million in TARP preferred shares into common, which, if it happens, would give the government a direct ownership stake in the bank.

Converting preferred shares to common would allow TSFG to record the shares as capital since common shares are a marketable asset whereas preferred shares, which carry a 5 percent dividend annually, are more like a loan and recorded as debt. No additional cash is exchanged.  Continue reading...

 

Small businesses get help

$2 million to be available this quarter

JANUARY 21, 2010 10:28 a.m. (0)

Entering the third year of being battered by the recession, The South Financial Group took steps to build a neglected business segment.

The company has created a 19-person department to become a bigger player in Small Business Administration loan programs in the Carolinas and Florida.  Continue reading...

 

TSFG board takes pay cut

Two more directors step down

FEBRUARY 11, 2010 9:12 p.m. (2)

The board of directors of The South Financial Group have cut their own compensation for 2010 and announced resignations of two more directors.

The board said in a statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission dated Feb. 11 that the compensation cut “represents a reduction of approximately 50 percent” and that the action was taken “in recognition of the current environment and management compensation levels.”  Continue reading...

 

Carolina First: Overhaul

Bank downsizes personnel, beefs up SBA programs

MARCH 15, 2010 9:00 a.m. (0)

The South Financial Group has shed several senior-level jobs to become a leaner company to help restore profitability and emerge from the recession as a more nimble bank, H. Lynn Harton, president and chief executive officer, said.

In the latest example, Christopher S. Gompper, 50, who had been executive vice president for corporate strategy, last week was named interim president of Carolina First, and his prior position was eliminated. Gompper joined TSFG in 2005.  Continue reading...

 

No profits yet for TSFG

Carolina First holding company reports a lessening of losses

APRIL 21, 2010 10:01 a.m. (0)

Carolina First’s losses eased in the first three months of the year, but with no expectation of profit until 2011. The bank needs a major cash infusion and expects bank regulators to insist on it.

The South Financial Group, parent of Carolina First and Mercantile Bank in Florida, Tuesday reported a first quarter loss of $85.8 million, or 40 cents per share, which was 9 cents less than expected in a consensus of Wall Street analysts. The bank lost $194 million, or 90 cents a share, in the prior quarter.

H. Lynn Harden, president and chief executive officer, was “encouraged that our loss this quarter was an improvement over previous quarters” but said with additional losses expected through 2010 the bank will “need to raise additional capital.”  Continue reading...

 

TSFG sells to Toronto company

MAY 20, 2010 12:21 p.m. (0)

In 20 years, The South Financial Group shot like a rocket from a small Carolina First office in Greenville to one of the nation’s 50 largest banks and South Carolina’s largest.

In less than three, it flamed out, burdened by soured loans in the credit and real estate collapse.  The estimated $1 billion anticipated in losses still to come – TSFG already had absorbed more than $900 million in loss – is a legacy of those go-go years.  Continue reading...

 

The fine print

By Dick Hughes

AUGUST 30, 2010 9:01 a.m. (0)

ScanSource Sets Revenue Record

ScanSource, the Greenville-based international distributor and reseller of technology products, had a good year with higher sales and income, but it could have been even better if it were not for product shortages, the company reported.  Continue reading...

 

The fine print

By Dick Hughes

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010 8:53 p.m. (0)

Finding Common Ground in Development

Leaders of several organizations engaged in various ways to promote the Upstate for new businesses met Aug. 19 at the BMW Zentrum with town and county officials to update them on their activities and encourage a united front.

“Our competition is not ourselves; our competition is other regions across the globe,” said Dean Hybol, executive director of Ten at the Top, which is building a consensus for smart land-use.  Continue reading...

 

Sold

TSFG now owned by Canada’s Toronto Dominion Bank

OCTOBER 6, 2010 11:14 a.m. (0)

With shareholder approval of the sale to TD Bank, Greenville’s homegrown but troubled Carolina First Bank sees new life as regional headquarters for TD in a merger that even revives possible use of Carolina First’s mostly unused $90-million campus off Interstate 85.

At a sparsely attended and brief shareholder meeting at Poinsett Plaza headquarters, The South Financial Group, the parent company, announced shareholder approval of the sale with 66 percent of the vote, all by proxy in advance.  Continue reading...