This summary highlights information contained elsewhere in, or incorporated by reference into, this prospectus supplement. This summary is not complete and does not contain all of the information that may be important to you in making an investment decision. You should carefully read this entire prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus, as well as the information to which we refer you and the information incorporated by reference herein, before deciding whether to invest in the Notes. See “Where You Can Find More Information.” You should pay special attention to the information contained under the caption titled “Risk Factors” in this prospectus supplement and “Risk Factors” in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 and subsequent filings with the SEC to determine whether an investment in the Notes is appropriate for you.
Amerant Bancorp Inc.
Our Business
We are a bank holding company headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida, with $8.1 billion in assets, $5.7 billion in loans held for investment, $5.8 billion in deposits, $841.1 million of shareholders’ equity, and $1.6 billion in assets under management and custody as of March 31, 2020. We provide individuals and businesses a comprehensive array of deposit, credit, investment, wealth management, retail banking and fiduciary services. We serve customers in our United States markets and select international customers. These services are offered through the Bank, which is also headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida, and its subsidiaries. We own the Bank through our wholly-owned intermediate holding company, Amerant Florida Bancorp Inc. Fiduciary, investment and wealth management services are provided by the Bank’s national trust company subsidiary, Amerant Trust, N.A. (“Amerant Trust”), the Bank’s securities broker-dealer subsidiary, Amerant Investments, Inc. (“Amerant Investments”), and the Bank’s Grand Cayman based trust company subsidiary, Elant Bank & Trust Ltd. (the “Cayman Bank”).
The Bank was founded in 1979 and is the largest community bank headquartered in Florida. We currently operate 27 banking centers where we offer personal and commercial banking services. The Bank’s three primary markets are South Florida, where we operate 19 banking centers in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties; the greater Houston, Texas area, where we have 8 banking centers that serve the nearby areas of Harris, Montgomery, Fort Bend and Waller counties and a loan production office (“LPO”), in Dallas, Texas, which we opened in early 2019; and the greater New York City area, where we also maintain a LPO that focuses on originating CRE loans.
The Company’s Class A common stock, par value $0.10 per common share, and Class B common stock, par value $0.10 per common share, are listed and trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbols “AMTB” and “AMTBB,” respectively.
Our History
From 1987 through December 31, 2017, we were a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mercantil Servicios Financieros, C.A., which we refer to as the Former Parent. On March 15, 2018, the Former Parent transferred 100% of our outstanding Class A common stock and Class B common stock, together, the Company Shares, to a newly created Florida common law, non-discretionary, grantor trust, which we refer to as the Distribution Trust or the Trust.
On August 10, 2018, we completed our spin-off from the Former Parent, which we refer to as the Spin-off, through the distribution of 19,814,992 shares of our Class A common stock and 14,218,596 shares of our Class B common stock, in each case adjusted for a reverse stock split completed on October 24, 2018. The shares distributed in the Distribution, or Distributed Shares, constituted 80.1% of the total issued and outstanding Company Shares of each class. As a result of the Distribution, each holder of record of the Former Parent’s Class A common stock or Class B common stock on April 2, 2018 received one share of our Class A common stock or one share of our Class B common stock for each share of the Former Parent Class A common stock or Class B common stock, respectively.
Following the Spin-off, the Former Parent retained 19.9% of our Class A common stock, the Class A Retained Shares, and 19.9% of our Class B common stock, the Class B Retained Shares, in the Distribution Trust. We refer to the Class A Retained Shares and the Class B Retained Shares, collectively, the Retained Shares.