The Capital Bank ramping up for growth with new leadership team, stock offering

Little Rock-based The Capital Bank has announced three new hires for its executive leadership team.

In the past few weeks, the company has hired former Simmons Bank executive Chris Roberts as chairman and CEO of the bank and its holding company, Capital Bancshares Inc.  Roberts was most recently executive vice president of wealth management and private banking for Simmons.

Phillip Jett, previously Central Arkansas market president for IberiaBank for the past decade, is vice chairman and president of the bank and the holding company. Burt Hicks is the new director, senior executive vice president, chief operating officer and general counsel for the bank and the holding company. Hicks filled a number of executive roles at Simmons Bank the past five years, most recently as director of mortgage banking.

“We are excited to announce our new executive leadership team and are grateful for the opportunity,” Roberts said in a statement. “Phillip, Burt and I share a vision of providing exceptional customer service while delivering banking products with purpose, passion and precision.”

Capital Bank was formed in 1997 and has assets of about $161 million, according to the most recent data from the FDIC. The company has 16 employees and has one branch office on Chenal Parkway.

The bank is also planning to seek regulatory approval for a rebrand to Encore Bank. The name of the holding company will remain the same.

“We are still Capital Bank right now, but we will begin that [rebranding] process soon,” said Barry Jackson, the company’s new chief marketing officer. He started Feb. 14 and was previously the chief operating officer of the Arkansas Bankers Association. “The name is really just about us coming together to do more than what we have in the past. We wanted to build something that we can call our own.”

Hicks said the long-term vision is for the bank to grow into a large community bank, but he was hesitant to quantify what that meant specifically.

“Let me say this,” Hicks said. “We don’t want to be a $160 million bank with one branch in Little Rock, Arkansas. We’re obviously embarking on an ambitious capital raise and we have plans to be in multiple markets in Arkansas and others across the region, perhaps. Suffice it to say, we have growth ambitions that are much larger than we are today.”

Capital Bancshares will support its growth plans by making its common stock available to the public. The holding company is making available up to 298,027 shares of common stock at a price of $167.77 per share, for a total offering of up to approximately $50 million. The offering will end no later than March 5, 2020.

Prospective investors must subscribe to purchase at least 149 shares (approximately $25,000).