recap- Wednesday, November 4, 2009, 9:15am EST
Mercantile Bank parent gets $60M allocation in tax credit program
Tampa Bay Business Journal
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Carolina First Bank received a $60 million tax credit allocation as part of the New Markets Tax Credit program.

It’s the third award in three years under the program for the bank, which operates in Florida as Mercantile. The bank received allocations in 2007 and 2008 of $100 million in each year.

New Markets Tax Credit is a federal tax program designed to stimulate community economic development and job creation in markets facing economic challenges. Urban and rural low-income areas in Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina are the principal service areas for Carolina First’s award, the company said in a release.

The program provides a tax credit to investors for making “qualified equity investments” in investment vehicles, known as Community Development Entities, in low-income communities. The investors receive a tax credit, totaling 39 percent of the qualified investment, over a seven-year period.

Through the bank’s subsidiary, Carolina First Community Development Corp., Carolina First has closed on more than 11 projects, which deployed $62.5 million in tax credit allocation and generated $138 million in total investments, the release said.

Mercantile Bank, part of Greenville, S.C.-based The South Financial Group (NASDAQ: TSFG), has 17 offices and about $755.6 million in deposits in the Tampa Bay area, according to the latest information available from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.