Capitol Bancorp Announces the Planned Divestiture and Recapitalization of 1st Commerce Bank

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Oct 08, 2010, 02:00 ET

LANSING, Mich., and PHOENIX, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Capitol Bancorp Limited (NYSE: CBC) announced today that it has entered into a definitive sales agreement with investors for the sale and subsequent recapitalization of 1st Commerce Bank.

Capitol's Chairman and CEO Joseph D. Reid said, "This transaction addresses one of our key strategic initiatives by further deleveraging our consolidated balance sheet."

Jason A. Awad, a veteran Nevada businessman with deep roots in the greater Las Vegas community, has executed a definitive agreement that will acquire 100% ownership of 1st Commerce Bank. As of June 30, 2010, 1st Commerce Bank had approximately $45 million in total assets, $30 million in total loans and reported a loss of approximately $1.2 million through the first six months of 2010.

Reid added, "1st Commerce Bank, which was launched in late 2006, was almost immediately impacted by the early stages of the national recession and subsequent banking crisis, in its efforts to gain traction in its local market. And approximately one year ago an aborted divestiture transaction initiated in the summer of 2009 further impeded the bank's original growth initiatives. As Capitol continues to address challenges within its affiliate network, this transition serves as a strategic opportunity to deleverage our consolidated balance sheet while enabling 1st Commerce Bank to partner with a local, seasoned banking team possessing access to additional capital resources."

The transaction is expected to be completed by year-end 2010 or in early 2011.

About Capitol Bancorp Limited

Capitol Bancorp Limited (NYSE: CBC) is a $4.7 billion national community banking company, with a network of bank operations in 14 states. Founded in 1988, Capitol Bancorp Limited has executive offices in Lansing, Michigan and Phoenix, Arizona.

Forward Looking Statement

Certain statements in this announcement contain forward-looking statements that are based on management's expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "believes," "scheduled," "estimates" and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual future results and trends may differ materially from what is forecast in forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors.

All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the company or any person acting on the Corporation's behalf are qualified by the cautionary statements in this press release. The Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update or publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events, circumstances or changes in expectations after the date of this press release.

www.capitolbancorp.com

SOURCE Capitol Bancorp Limited