Bloomberg News says EverBank Financial exploring possible sale

[thelakelander]

I hope it's not a Gilbert owned company. Those jobs would be drained out of Jax and inserted into Detroit overnight.

[jaxlongtimer]

From Wikipedia article about Gilbert:

Detroit initiatives

Quicken Loans moved its headquarters and 1,700 of its team members to downtown Detroit in August 2010, where Gilbert and the company are helping lead a revitalization of Detroit's urban core. Today, Gilbert-owned businesses employ 12,000 people in the city.

In 2011, Gilbert's Rock Ventures group purchased several buildings in downtown Detroit, including the historic Madison Theatre Building, Chase Tower and Two Detroit Center (parking garage),  Dime Building (renamed Chrysler House), First National Building  and three smaller buildings on Woodward Avenue.  In 2012, Rock Ventures (the umbrella entity formed to provide operational coordination, guidance and integration of Gilbert's portfolio of companies, investments and real estate) purchased the former Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Detroit Branch Building, One Woodward Avenue, 1201 Woodward (Kresge Building), and five smaller buildings on Woodward Avenue and Broadway Street, totaling 630,000 square feet of commercial space in downtown Detroit. In 2013, Rock Ventures purchased the 1001 Woodward office tower, several smaller buildings in the downtown area and announced, along with The Downtown Detroit Partnership and the Detroit Economic Growth Group, a placemaking plan for revitalizing Detroit's urban core.

Rock Ventures' downtown Detroit real estate investments include more than 60 properties (buildings and/or store fronts) totaling 9 million square feet. Four million square feet is commercial space; another 3.6 million square feet is parking (10,096 parking spaces).

In 2015, he purchased Book Tower in Detroit, MI.

In September 2013, Gilbert was named co-chair of the Blight Removal Task Force. The group, appointed by the Obama Administration, published a detailed plan in May 2014 to remove all blighted structures and lots in the City of Detroit.

Looks like he has almost single-handedly revived downtown Detroit.  Would be amazing to see someone do that in Jax ?  Maybe Everbank didn't like the "offer" from whomever has already approached it - aside from price - possibly related to moving it out of Jax?

Another section shows some possible overlaps with Everbank's business and its interest in sports:

Gilbert is a founding partner in private equity group Rockbridge Growth Equity LLC (RBE). The partnership invests in growing businesses in the financial services, Internet technology, consumer-direct marketing, and the sports and entertainment industries. RBE has significant investments in Gas Station TV,[19] Robb Report,[20] RapidAdvance,[21] Northcentral University, Protect America, AccountNow, Purchasing Power, Triad Retail Media, One on One Marketing, and Connect America.[22][23

[thelakelander]

^Gilbert is from Detroit. That's why he's funneling money into that town and moving all his companies to downtown. He has no civic connection to Jax. He's their sugar daddy.

[spuwho]

It could be a non-bank acquirer.  For example, Amazon is moving into offering student loans.  From what I have read, this could be their first foray into a bigger plan of offering financial services.  Everbank's concentration in internet banking and mortgage lending could play well into such a vision.  If it was a non-bank acquirer, Jax could actually end up being the HQ's for a substantial expansion of Everbank with the resources of a larger parent company.  Witness the acquisition of Alltel's Information Systems by Fidelity.  We have 3 Fortune 500 HQ's out of that one

Another possibility:  The people bringing you Quicken Loans.  Another tech company diversifying into financial services .

Quicken Loans has no relationship to Intuit or the Quicken personal finance products.

Intuit at one time brokered loans successfully but spun off the lending division completely,  hence the name.

The Intuit Commercial Software division is still based in the Cleveland area after the Quicken Loans Group was spun off.

They produce a portfolio of commercial accounting products for business, but it is not where Quick Books is developed.

[Houseboat Mike]

According to the email we got this morning they are in advanced negotiations with a well respected financial services firm.

[Westside Guy]

I know I'm probably in the minority here, but I have absolutely no interest in having "Everbank: A division on Amazon" or anything like that. I would much rather keep the independent corporate headquarters, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. 1 step forward, 3 steps back. Same old tune for Jacksonville.

[JeffreyS]

It is UBS


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-25/everbank-financial-said-to-work-with-ubs-to-explore-sale

[Gunnar]

^Gilbert is from Detroit. That's why he's funneling money into that town and moving all his companies to downtown. He has no civic connection to Jax. He's their sugar daddy.

Yes, but I do not think he does it entirely out of altruism, which is perfectly fine. Hopefully, he sees similar opportunities in Jax as he does in Detroit if he is Everbank's buyer (which it appears he is not, sadly).

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/2016/04/28/dan-gilbert-bedrock-downtown-detroit-buildings/83681698/

The great thing is that he is able to do things on a great scale but this also means that if the whole area is revitalized, his properties' value increases so he profits, as he should.

In Jax I have a feeling that you have many speculators sitting on land waiting for someone else to move first allowing them to profit from others' investments. In the mean time, the grass on the empty lots grows thicker and the remaining buildings deteriorate.

[Gunnar]

It is UBS


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-25/everbank-financial-said-to-work-with-ubs-to-explore-sale

From the article, UBS is not the buyer but rather helping facilitate the deal.

The Jacksonville-based lender has been working with UBS Group AG to solicit offers from possible buyers...

[thelakelander]

I wouldn't get my sugar daddy hopes up with Gilbert (if he were the buyer). With that said, Jax's urban core is on the verge of a multifamily residential development boom. Most of the projects are new construction and aren't asking for incentives. I'm working on a story about this topic now.

[Steve]

While stranger things have happened (Fidelity moved here after buying Alltel Information Services), I think the best we can reasonably hope for is for the buyer to be a company that recognizes the cost of doing business in Jacksonville and keeps the employment base here. I think it's going to be MUCH tougher on the exec team. If I remember right, EverBank got a good deal on the lease at 301 W Bay in exchange for a decent length of the lease.

[menace1069]

It won't be another bank. If you are in the financial world (I am), you know there is no value to another bank to purchase Everbank. As the latest article states, it is a "well-respected financial services company." More than likely an insurance-related company than wants to diversify and is probably going to keep the name as it is already heavily-branded. The new owner will want to just have it in it's portfolio since EB is a profitable company. Some changes in the top of house potentially, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Just buy it and let it continue on being profitable. I don't see EverBank Field losing it's name anytime soon simply because I don't think the new owner will change the name. I do find it interesting that the new owner wants to call the shares and make it private again, though.

Just my .02 worth.

[Houseboat Mike]

It won't be another bank. If you are in the financial world (I am), you know there is no value to another bank to purchase Everbank. As the latest article states, it is a "well-respected financial services company." More than likely an insurance-related company than wants to diversify and is probably going to keep the name as it is already heavily-branded. The new owner will want to just have it in it's portfolio since EB is a profitable company. Some changes in the top of house potentially, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Just buy it and let it continue on being profitable. I don't see EverBank Field losing it's name anytime soon simply because I don't think the new owner will change the name. I do find it interesting that the new owner wants to call the shares and make it private again, though.

Just my .02 worth.

To me that narrows down the choices. It is probably a non publicly traded company.

[mtraininjax]

Maybe, just maybe, it is a large international bank similar to Deutche looking to secure a main US location outside of NYC

Doubtful its Deutche bank, they are in free-fall after their latest earnings report and not looking strong at all. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/27/deutsche-bank-says-q2-revenues-were-74-billion-euros-down-20-versus-second-quarter-of-2015.html

News of the potential acquisition Tuesday came as EverBank also reported a sharp drop in second-quarter earnings. Profit fell to $21.6 million, or 15 cents a share, compared with a profit of $41.6 million, or 31 cents a share, a year prior. Excluding one-time items, earnings were 32 cents a share. Revenue fell 22% to $196.6 million as a gain in net interest income was offset by a decline in noninterest income because of mortgage servicing amortization and losses in loan servicing.  Total loan originations fell 11% to $3.08 billion. The company revealed the negotiations as it announced a 51 per cent decline in revenues in the second quarter compared with the same period last year.

Falling revenue is consistent with the financials, as interest rates are not helping their bottom lines, and with so many providers of loans,  and Everbank with such a conservative view of its loan portfolio, it may be missing the "frothy loan market" as we see fewer and fewer high quality-conservative loans. Many small and medium sized banks are being snapped up by fellow "financial services" as they are cheap now and will eventually come back as profitable.

Unless the fellow-Financial Services firm is in Jacksonville, look for Charlie Rice's ghost to be seen around the Everbank halls as the name and brand will surely set sail out of Jacksonville at some point in the future.

[Houseboat Mike]

Maybe, just maybe, it is a large international bank similar to Deutche looking to secure a main US location outside of NYC

Doubtful its Deutche bank, they are in free-fall after their latest earnings report and not looking strong at all. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/27/deutsche-bank-says-q2-revenues-were-74-billion-euros-down-20-versus-second-quarter-of-2015.html

News of the potential acquisition Tuesday came as EverBank also reported a sharp drop in second-quarter earnings. Profit fell to $21.6 million, or 15 cents a share, compared with a profit of $41.6 million, or 31 cents a share, a year prior. Excluding one-time items, earnings were 32 cents a share. Revenue fell 22% to $196.6 million as a gain in net interest income was offset by a decline in noninterest income because of mortgage servicing amortization and losses in loan servicing.  Total loan originations fell 11% to $3.08 billion. The company revealed the negotiations as it announced a 51 per cent decline in revenues in the second quarter compared with the same period last year.

Falling revenue is consistent with the financials, as interest rates are not helping their bottom lines, and with so many providers of loans,  and Everbank with such a conservative view of its loan portfolio, it may be missing the "frothy loan market" as we see fewer and fewer high quality-conservative loans. Many small and medium sized banks are being snapped up by fellow "financial services" as they are cheap now and will eventually come back as profitable.

Unless the fellow-Financial Services firm is in Jacksonville, look for Charlie Rice's ghost to be seen around the Everbank halls as the name and brand will surely set sail out of Jacksonville at some point in the future.

Why would you assume immediately that the brand would leave Jax? It is entirely possible that they would be acquired and held as a wholly owned subsidiary, and other than top level management changes, nothing would change.