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BankAtlantic chief touts recovery
By JEFF HARRINGTON © St. Petersburg Times, published February 27, 2001 TAMPA -- Alan Levan stood before a few dozen investors in the posh setting of the Tampa Club on Monday, making his best pitch that his Fort Lauderdale bank is back on track. Again. Sure, the chief executive of BankAtlantic Bancorp acknowledged, his bank "stubbed its toe" with a "flawed strategy" in 1998. That was the year BankAtlantic took a $15-million charge to get out of mortgage servicing and subsequently wrote off almost $50-million in small business loans. But now Levan sees profits growing under a new management team and plans to add to the bank's seven-branch outpost in the Tampa Bay area. Plus, his St. Lucie West development arm is negotiating to buy 1,250 acres in New Tampa to carve up for housing and commercial development, St. Lucie's biggest project since it became part of BankAtlantic in 1996. "It's taken a couple of years to recover . . . but I assure you, we've solved our issues. I think you will see this is quite the value situation," Levan said at the private business club on the top floor of the Bank of America Plaza. After a mild embrace by Wall Street, BankAtlantic shares are trading at half their $12 peak in early 1998. But few are ready to count the company out yet. Levan and his bank are survivors. Thirteen years ago, kidnappers held Levan and his family hostage overnight before escaping with $250,000 ransom from the bank. During the downturn in commercial real estate in the late 1980s, BankAtlantic struggled to rebound, then posted six consecutive years of record earnings. Known for his persistance, Levan took ABC News on a nine-year legal battle accusing the network of making him look like a crook in a 20/20 news story in 1991. The U.S. Supreme Court last year refused to reinstate a $10-million libel award Levan initially won. Ten years later, he is still standing -- and running the largest bank based in Florida with $4.6-billion in assets. After recovering from real estate doldrums a decade ago, Bank-Atlantic diversified. In addition to St. Lucie West, the bank bought home builder Levitt & Sons and investment banker Ryan Beck & Co. BankAtlantic moved into the Tampa Bay banking market 21/2 years ago and has grown to about $150-million in deposits. Levan said he may buy another bank or perhaps an insurance company, but probably not before 2002. "You'll see acquisitions from us, but not until we get a few quarters behind us to demonstrate that these (improved earnings) numbers are core numbers," he said. In the meantime, more paring looms. The bank is cutting its statewide ATM network from 800 to 400. One profitable niche that will be spared the ax is its casino and gambling ship operation. A leader in ship casino ATMs, BankAtlantic equips 40 ships with teller machines, giving gamblers an option cheaper than paying a ship's bursar up to $25 to cash a check. The charge for non-BankAtlantic ATM users on board: $3 to $5 a transaction. "The best way we could describe them is ka-ching, ka-ching," Levan said. BankAtlantic's presentation came just two weeks after Levan made similar pitches to investors in Boston and New York City. There are signs the road show is paying off. Four investment analysts now cover the bank, up from two a year ago, and BankAtlantic stock has moved up 50 percent since January. Still, at its $6.14 Monday close, the stock is trading at roughly 80 percent of book value and about eight times its projected earnings in 2001. By comparison, the seven biggest bank holding companies in the Southeast trade at about 230 percent of book value and 14 times earnings. Levan speculated investors are queasy because the bank continued to take charges as recently as last year. "We're coming into 2001," he said, "with a clean slate." - Contact Jeff Harrington at harrington@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3407.
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From the Times Business report
From the AP
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