Amerant Bancorp in Coral Gables, Fla., has agreed to sell $401 million of multifamily loans at a loss.
The $9.3 billion-asset company disclosed in a regulatory filing that it will sell the Houston-based loans to an affiliate of Prime Finance Advisor at a $23 million after-tax loss. The portfolio was classified as held-for-sale on Dec. 31.
The portfolio consists of 20 performing commercial real estate loans with an average loan-to-value of 65%. About $370 million of the loans have variable rates.
Amerant said the proceeds will be used to reduce non-relationship institutional deposits of $260 million. The remaining proceeds will be invested in fixed-rate earnings assets.
The deal, which is expected to close by the end of this month, follows the company’s decision to sell loans in its New York CRE portfolio at a $2 million loss.
Separately, the company said it restructured its bank-owned life insurance, incurring $4.6 million of income tax expenses and other charges. It should take two years to earn back the BOLI-related costs.
Amerant also recorded $1.6 million of conversation costs tied to FIS and software expenses.
Amerant also disclosed that it incurred $1.7 million of goodwill-related charges due to the dissolution of its Cayman Islands subsidiary and the decision to make Amerant Mortgage a wholly-owned subsidiary.
Dissolving the Cayman Islands unit should save Amerant $300,000 annually.
Amerant recorded $1 million of severance expenses after cutting 10 full-time jobs. The company also expects to record a $6.5 million gain after repaying $585 million of FHLB advances.