August 27, 2010 in Nation/World

Sterling completes recapitalization plan

• Print
• Email
• Share

Sterling Financial Corp. has completed the $730 million recapitalization plan announced last week.

The money from a mixture of institutional and individual investors will bring the Spokane-based parent of Sterling Savings Bank back into compliance with regulatory capital requirements, Chief Executive Officer Greg Seibly said.

Sterling reserves had been drained by substantial losses on real estate and construction loans.

“The successful completion of this capital raise helps position Sterling as a premier community banking franchise in the Pacific Northwest,” said Seibly, who added thanks to customers and employees who remained loyal while the bank solved its capital problems.

Bert Caldwell

City purchases Deer Park Golf Club

The city of Deer Park purchased the Deer Park Golf Club on Thursday in a property auction.

City officials agreed to pay $850,000 for the 18-hole course, according to a statement on an auction company’s website.

A national auction firm ran the online and live sale, which included numerous adjoining properties from what was going to be, according to original developers, a $32-million development with 500 houses, condos and a strip mall. That project, hatched in the 1990s, never gained traction.

Efforts to reach Deer Park officials were not successful Thursday.

The golf club encompasses an 18-hole, 150-acre golf course, driving range, chipping range, putting green, clubhouse, horseshoe pits and storage buildings.

Tom Sowa

Blockbuster readies bankruptcy filing

Los Angeles – After dominating the home video rental business for more than a decade and struggling to survive in recent years against upstarts Netflix and Redbox, Blockbuster Inc. is preparing to file for bankruptcy next month, according to people who have been briefed on the matter.

Executives from Blockbuster and its senior debt holders last week held meetings with the six major movie studios to discuss their intention to enter a “pre-planned” bankruptcy in mid-September, said several people familiar with the situation who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of ongoing talks.

Blockbuster is hoping to use its time in Chapter 11 to restructure a crippling debt load of nearly $1 billion and escape leases on 500 or more of its 3,425 stores in the U.S. Maintaining the support of Hollywood’s film studios during the process will be critical so that Blockbuster can continue to rely upon an uninterrupted supply of new DVDs.

Los Angeles Times

No comments on this story so far. Add yours!