The Bancorp sells piece of commercial loan portfolio

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172bb57The Bancorp, north Wilmington, has sold a piece of its commercial loan portfolio to a newly formed entity for $209.6 million. The company will keep a 49 percent stake in the portfolio.

The purchaser of the loan portfolio is Walnut Street 2014-1.

The company reported a loss of about $3.9 million as a result of the sale of the portfolio, which will be reflected in fourth quarter earnings that will be announced later this month.

Bancorp had a commercial loan portfolio valued at $1.2 billion and earlier announced it would halt commercial lending.

Walnut Street is 51 percent owned and controlled by AG Mortgage Value Partners, L.P. and its affiliate AG TCDRS, L.P., and 49 percent owned by the Bancorp.

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Bancorp has operated as a community bank and as a nationwide provider of prepaid cards.

“Our decision was based upon our expectation that the specialty lending segments will provide better risk adjusted yields, greater granularity compared to various types of commercial lending and, thus, a more predictable earnings stream,” Bancorp CEO Betsy Z. Cohen stated in the third quarter earnings release.

The stock price of the company has fallen below $10 a share after rising to nearly $20 in March 2014. Cohen also announced her retirement, Philly.com Deals columnist Joseph DiStefano  reported.

Despite its Delaware location, The Bancorp reflected the Philadelphia-centric  focus of Cohen, who founded the company after running a bank in the city.

Over the years, the bank holding company kept a low profile in Delaware and did not build a branch network.

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