Company hopes to buy Colonial Bank branches

The New York company that planned to buy the Nevada operations of Colonial Bank before the bank failed Aug. 14 said Thursday that it is in discussions to buy them from the bank holding company that took over Colonial Bank.

BB&T of Winston-Salem, N.C., took over Colonial Bank after regulators shut down Colonial, but BB&T on Monday said it is uninterested in retaining the Nevada banking operations.

Global Consumer Acquisition Corp. said Thursday it is talking with BB&T about acquiring Colonial Bank's Nevada branches.

"I'm committed to pursuing this transaction which should provide liquidity and job growth to Nevada," said Jason Ader, who would be chairman and chief executive officer of Western Liberty Bancorp, the holding company for the proposed Nevada bank.

Ader, formerly a casino analyst with Bear Stearns & Co. and director of Las Vegas Sands Corp., said he wants 1st Commerce to follow the strategy of Las Vegas-based Valley Bank, the leading bank for the gaming industry before Valley was acquired by BankAmerica Corp. in the early 1990s.

Since then, casino companies have relied on multistate and multinational banks for financial services, Ader said.

Global intended to start a Nevada bank with $500 million in assets, 22 branches and 225 employees. As originally proposed, the new 1st Commerce Bank would have $255.7 million in tangible value on its accounting books and a 32 percent capital ratio, one of the highest capital or net worth ratios among Nevada banks.

Although the proposed bank would not be large enough to fund billion-dollar loans to casino operators without help from other financial institutions, it could work with gaming companies seeking to restructure their leverage or debt, he said. The bank could also provide loans and financial services to the numerous service companies and suppliers that serve the casino industry, as well as other small businesses, he said.

"The gaming industry will recover, and the assets on the Las Vegas Strip are irreplaceable," Ader said.

Ader said he does not expect "significant activity" in real estate development in Nevada over the next few years.

"We believe there's a great opportunity to a provider of liquidity to Nevada," he said.

Ader hopes to complete negotiations with BB&T so that he can submit the deal to shareholders of record as of Sept. 10 and hold a shareholder vote by Sept. 29.

Contact reporter John G. Edwards at jedwards@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0420.