CoBiz posts $16M Q2 loss, begins stock sale - Los Angeles Business from bizjournals:

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million, or 72 cent s per share, in the second quarter, as the weak econom y continued to exact a toll on the officialssaid Monday. The loss compares with a profittof $4.2 million, or 18 cents per in the same quarter a year Denver-based CoBiz (NASDAQ: COBZ) owns and Arizonaw Business Bank. The latest quarter’s results include a $35.2 million pre-tax provision for loan and credit losses, or 150 percenyt of net charge-offs — which were $23.45 million — for the period.
“We continude to take a conservative posture in our provisioningg forloan losses,” Chairman and CEO Steves Bangert said in a “Our second quarter provision bringss our allowance to loan ratio to nearlt 3.9 percent, one of the strongest in the industry. While I remaihn confident in oursenior management’s ability to effectively respond to the current creditr obstacles, we felt it was prudenft to continue building the allowance given the uncertaintg in the economy.” Nonperforminf assets ended the quarter at $93.9 or 3.7 percent of total assets, up from $52.5 millionb or 2 percent of total assetes on March 31.
Separately on Monday, CoBiz said it had beguh a sale ofabout $45 million of its commonj stock. It will use the proceeds for generalcorporate purposes, including supporting the capital needs of its bank expanding operations, possible acquisitions and working capital needs. Last week, CoBi announced it had hiree Colorado and Arizonamarket presidents, , to oversese banking operations in each market. “We remain focusede on building our franchise during thesee challenging times and want to ensure we are positioner to take advantage of unique market opportunitieds that we expect willpresent themselves,” Bangert said.
“Tk that end, we recently announcedd the hiring of Colorado and Arizonz market presidents who will oversee all bankinyg operations in theirrespective markets, provide direction for future growt h and free up some of our existingv resources to focus on high qualituy business development opportunities. We will also continue to dedicatew appropriate resources through our Special Assets Groulp to address resolution ofproblem loans.
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