Tag Archive for 'ASFN'

Atlantic Southern Bank Finally Fails, Took Longer Than Expected

Posted on May 20, 2011, 9:17 pm. Closed

Atlantic Southern Bank, based in Macon, Georgia, finally failed. Here is the FDIC’s news release:

CertusBank, National Association, Easley, South Carolina, acquired the banking operations, including all the deposits, of Atlantic Southern Bank, Macon, Georgia, and First Georgia Banking Company, Franklin, Georgia. The two banks were closed today by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, which appointed the FDIC as receiver for each institution. To protect depositors, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) entered into purchase and assumption agreements with CertusBank, N.A.

All 26 branches of the two closed banks will reopen during their normal business hours beginning Saturday as branches of CertusBank, N.A. Depositors of the two failed banks will automatically become depositors of CertusBank, N.A. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship in order to retain their deposit insurance coverage up to applicable limits. Atlantic Southern Bank had 16 branches, and First Georgia Banking Company had 10 branches.

These two were the 41st and 42nd to fail this year and the 11th and 12th of Georgia banks to fail…

I predicted way back in the summer of 2009 that it was only a matter of time before Atlantic Southern failed—take a look at my collective posts on Atlantic. It took somewhat longer than expected, but it feels good the situation has finally been resolved! Hopefully the new owners will be able to right the wrongs that took place there and will be able to turn the bank around.

Atlantic Southern Bank CEO Leaves; Bank Voluntarily Delists Stock From Nasdaq

Posted on January 22, 2011, 10:33 am. 3 Comments

More evidence that it is only a matter of time before Atlantic Southern goes away:

I think its very likely Mark Stevens is jumping from a sinking ship to a ship that will very likely become a powerful regional institution. Who can blame him? Would you want to be associated with a failed bank? And as for the stock delisting, they cite costs and failure to meet the listing requirements. If they were concerned about costs, I question why they did not do this a year ago.

So lets depart from the qualitative reasons Atlantic Southern is likely to fail and get to the quantitative reasons. Continue reading ‘Atlantic Southern Bank CEO Leaves; Bank Voluntarily Delists Stock From Nasdaq’

Could Atlantic Southern Go the Way of Security Bank?

Posted on August 8, 2009, 11:17 pm. Closed

Atlantic Southern (ASFN), a bank based in my hometown of Macon, Georgia, reported its Q2 earnings at the end of July. Things are starting to look a LOT worse over there and I am beginning to think chances are increasing that they could be taken over within a year.

First, ASFN reported a net loss $5.65 per share for the second quarter of 2009. Compare this to a net gain of $.18 per share for the first quarter of 2009 and to a net gain of $.17 per share for the second quarter of 2008.

Second, asset quality and capitalization ratios have declined from the previous quarter and are starting to look very similar to the ratios of Security Bank before they failed and were acquired by State Bank & Trust.

secbank-asfn

So is it possible ASFN could eventually be taken over? I say yes because anything is possible and secondly because of the aforementioned data. Quarter after quarter, things have gotten progressively worse for Atlantic Southern and the stock price is clearly reflecting the lack of confidence. The stock is now trading again at all time lows (click chart).

2009-08-08-asfn

I also believe if this company was going to survive we would be seeing at least a little bit of insider activity. However, the last time we saw any positive activity was back in November 2008 when Director and largest insider Bill Fickling purchased some shares at $7.68. Since then, there has been zero activity. If ASFN was such a good buy in the seven dollar range, why haven’t we seen knowledgeable directors or executives purchase at half that price? Well, the presumed answer is that the these owners and executives have no confidence in their company.

Anyone still holding onto this stock should probably sell now while they still can.