PE Helps North Carolina Banks
Four years after the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the banking system is still not fully recovered, but private equity is helping to make it stronger. American Banker reported that since 2010, private equity firms have injected more than $500 million worth of capital into a handful of NC banking companies. According to the article, PE investment in these banks has played a supporting role in reviving the state’s economy.
The article quotes Lee Burrows, the chief executive of Banks Street Partners, saying: “We would have had a number of weaker banks that most likely wouldn’t be lending, which would have hurt commerce…PE has restored the health of a number of community banks in the state, keeping them in business to lend money.”
Similarly, Cecil Sewell, the former chief executive of Centura Banks, said, “Private equity is absolutely a plus…If you look at the community banks out there that need capital, there is no way that they can go to public markets. If nothing else, it gives banks another option.”
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