WASHINGTON: First Foundation shares slumped roughly 24% on Wednesday to their lowest since November after the Texas-based lender with a huge portfolio of multi-family real estate loans disclosed a US$228mil “unexpected” capital raise.

The announcement illustrated the struggles of banks with large exposure to commercial real estate (CRE) as the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes and lower occupancies due to a shift in office work patterns trigger default fears.

The deal also sparked concerns about excessive dilution of current shareholders’ ownership. It was struck at a 60% discount to the bank’s tangible book value per share and would cede 49% of its stake to the new investors, according to media reports.

“We’re surprised First Foundation sought this transaction given there appeared to be a path to earnings recovery over the next two to three years,” Wedbush analyst David Chiaverini said, noting its substantial capital and strong credit quality.

Multi-family loans accounted for nearly 52% of the lender’s US$10.1bil portfolio as of March 31.

Worries about loans tied to multi-family properties - apartment buildings with more than four units - have also crushed New York Community Bancorp’s shares this year, down nearly 66% to last close.

“(First Foundation’s) loan book, while performing relatively well currently given the low delinquency rate, has seen stress increase slightly in the past few quarters,” said Stephen Buschbom, research director at industry data provider Trepp.

“Importantly, the ratio of loan loss reserves to non-performing loans has decreased dramatically over the past few quarters, indicating that they may need to increase reserves in the near term, especially if they anticipate more loan credit problems in the coming months or quarters.”

The First Foundation capital injection was led by Fortress Investment Group, with backing from Canyon Partners, Strategic Value Bank Partners and North Reef Capital, among others.

Fortress is backed by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, while Canyon specialises in credit investments. Strategic Value has roots in distressed debt investing and is an existing shareholder of First Foundation, while North Reef focuses on the financial sector.

First Foundation was among lenders with the biggest CRE footprints last year. It wants to offload some of its multi-family loans, but is being cautious to avoid losses from such sales, chief executive officer Scott Kavanaugh said on a call on Wednesday.

Though the low yields from multi-family loans were hurting the bank’s earnings, “there has been no degradation in our credit whatsoever,” he said.

Some on Wall Street hailed the investment as a positive. D.A. Davidson upgraded the bank’s stock, saying the deal would allow First Foundation to be flexible with its balance sheet.

The capital would help increase its allowance for credit losses and sharpen focus on commercial and industrial loans, First Foundation said.

Raymond James said “the worst-case scenario has now been taken off the table” because of the increased liquidity, but conceded that the capital raise was “unexpected” and downgraded the bank’s stock.

Short sellers stand to make up to US$10mil from the plunge. Short interest was 11.4% of the bank’s free float, up from 8.5% at the end of last year, according to data from Ortex.

At rivals such as Valley National Bancorp and Customers Bancorp, the short interest was 8.1% and 10%, respectively, the data showed.

The drop on Wednesday was set to wipe US$81mil off First Foundation’s value, bringing its market value to about US$290mil.

Its shares had already been hammered this year, losing nearly 32% before the latest slide.

 - Reuters