Superior Bank
Superior Bank is a southeastern community bank headquarted in Birmingham at the John A Hand Building at 17 20th Street North. Formerly known as The Bank, the company changed its name in January, 2006 after management changes were made.
Superior Bank is a subsidiary of Superior Bancorp, founded in 1997 as The Banc Corporation. Superior Bank currently has a total of twenty-seven branches, with nineteen locations throughout the state of Alabama and seven locations along Florida's eastern panhandle. Superior Bank also has loan production offices in Montgomery, Alabama, as well as Tallahassee and Panama City, Florida. 1 Upon completion of the previously announced mergers with First Kensington Bancshares and with Community Bancshares, Inc., Superior Bank will become a $2.4 billion community bank with 56 banking offices from Huntsville, Alabama to Tampa, Florida. In addition, Superior Bank currently has 17 new branches planned for Northeast Alabama and Florida during 2006 and 2007. 2
History
The Banc Corporation was founded in the fall of 1997 by James A. Taylor, who, with a group of twenty-six individual investors, acquired Warrior Savings Bank. In March, 1998, Warrior Savings Bank became Superior Bank and the company opened its headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama, in the historic John A. Hand Building. The Corporation completed its initial public offering of common stock to become a publicly held company in December, 1998. Superior Bank has continued to grow in targeted areas of Alabama and Florida via the opening of new offices as well as the acquisition of community banks.
Current Status
Today, Superior is managed by C. Stanley Bailey, elected as Chief Executive Officer in January, 2005, by the Board of Directors. Mr. Bailey and his new management team, with years of banking experience, have a commitment to maximize the potential shareholder value of the company.
The Superior Bank name has a legacy with CEO Stan Bailey and the new management of Superior Bank Corporation. In 1998, a group of investors led by Stan Bailey founded Superior Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: SUFI) and acquired Superior Federal Bank, a $1.2 billion thrift headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. By 2003, Superior shareholders saw a 148% appreciation in shareholder value largely as a result of the execution of a sound community bank strategy and capitalizing on new customer opportunities caused by acquisitions by out-of-state banks in the community markets served by Superior.
Pending Mergers
In 2006, Superior Bank has announced mergers with two community banks.
On March 6, it announced the merger of Tampa, FL-based First Kensington Bancshares. 3 1st Kensington Bank operates 12 branches in the Tampa, FL area. The merger was approved by SEC and the banks' boards of directors on August 23. The merger was completed on August 31. 2 Superior expects to take over operations of First Kensington by the end of the first quarter, 2007.
On May 1, Superior also announced that is was acquiring Blountsville, AL-based Community Bancshares, Inc. Its subsidiaries Community Bank has 18 banking offices and 1st Community Credit has 15 financial services offices, located in 14 Alabama counties. The merger is expected to be complete by the fourth quarter 2006. 4
References
"Investor Relations", www.superiorbank.com 1
"Superior Bancorp Completes Merger With Kensington Bankshares", Stockhouse.com, Aug 31, 2006 2
"Regulators OK Superior, Kensington merger", Tampa Bay Business Journal, Aug 14, 2006 3
"The Banc Corporation to Acquire Community Bancshares, Inc.", lexdon.com, May 1, 20064