Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs partner Eric Anderson is representing Textron Financial Corp., a secured creditor in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case of Eva-Tone Inc.

Parker Hudson has previously represented Textron in numerous matters, Anderson said. Parker Hudson associate Joshua Lewis is working with Anderson on the Eva-Tone bankruptcy.

Eva-Tone, of Clearwater, Fla., filed for Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida on Nov. 3. Holland & Knight partner Rod Anderson in Tampa is Eva-Tone’s debtor counsel.

Eva-Tone was forced to file for Chapter 11 after defaulting on a lease payment, according to a court filing. Eva-Tone said it had 2007 sales of $34.5 million in 2007, down 11 percent from $38.9 million in 2006, according to a court filing.

Eva-Tone owes Textron about $2.3 million from a revolving credit facility, according to a court filing.

Eva-Tone provides commercial printing services, order fulfillment and CD and DVD manufacturing. Textron is involved in aircraft financing, resort and golf course financing, insurance brokerage and other financial services. Textron is headquartered in Providence, R.I., and its distribution finance division is based in Alpharetta, Ga.

Looking to capitalize on the banking industry’s upheaval, and corresponding high rate of deal activity, Morgan Keegan & Co. acquired Atlanta boutique investment bank Burke Capital Group LLC.

McKenna Long & Aldridge partner Michael Cochran and associate Allix Magaziner advised Burke. Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz partner Robert DelPriore in Memphis advised Morgan Keegan, which is a unit of Regions Financial Corp. Terms of the sale weren’t disclosed.

Burke Capital specializes in the community banking industry, Cochran said. Founded by former Robinson-Humphrey banker Jon Burke in 1995, Burke Capital has been active in recent weeks advising clients on the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) program and on acquisitions.

“For community banks, the TARP money only goes so far. A lot of these banks still might have to raise additional capital,” Cochran said. “It’s going to be a really active industry.”

Burke Capital’s clients have included Merchants and Farmers Bank in Comer, Ga.; Citizens Financial Services Inc. in Greensboro, Ga.; and Allied Bankshares Inc. of Cumming, Ga.

Cochran said he hopes to continue to do work for Burke Capital, noting that McKenna Long & Aldridge already has a relationship with Regions Bank.

The recession has meant a precipitous drop in the number of M&A deals this year, meaning less work for investment bankers and lawyers.

But one segment of law firms’ corporate practice groups remains strong—advising banks and financial institutions. In the past month, two South Carolina banks turned to Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough for legal counsel on securities offerings.

Nelson Mullins partners Neil Grayson and John Jennings were counsel to SCBT Financial Corp. of Columbia and First Community Corp. of Lexington on securities work. Grayson works out of Nelson Mullins’ offices in Atlanta and Greenville, S.C. Jennings works in Greenville.

SCBT Financial raised about $27 million in a private placement of 1.01 million shares of common stock.

First Community sold $11.4 million in preferred stock to the U.S. Treasury as part of its Troubled Asset Relief Program Capital Purchase Program. First Community also sold 195,915 in 10-year warrants to Treasury.

SCBT Financial operates South Carolina Bank and Trust, as well as four offices of The Scottish Bank in North Carolina. First Community operates 11 offices of First Community Bank in the Columbia, S.C. area.

As the list of Georgia banks that have applied for funding in the U.S. Treasury’s TARP program grows, only two of those banks, as of late November, have actually closed on their financing.

SunTrust Banks Inc. was the first. The latest to complete the financing transaction is Ameris Bancorp of Moultrie, Ga. Rogers & Hardin partners Steve Fox and Jody Spencer, longstanding outside counsel to the bank, advised Ameris on the application, Spencer said.

Ameris sold 52,000 shares of preferred stock to the Treasury for $52 million in cash, according to a regulatory filing. Treasury also obtained a 10-year warrant to purchase up to 679,443 shares of Ameris’ common stock. The transaction was conducted under Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program Capital Purchase Program, also known as TARP.

Ameris agreed to certain restrictions on compensation for its executives, as required under the TARP plan.

It’s not luck that Ameris was only the second Georgia bank to complete its TARP application, said Spencer [photo, right].

“The Treasury is interested in supporting healthy banks,” Spencer said. “Ameris applied voluntarily, of course, and was approved very quickly. I think that’s a good statement on their position.”

Describing Ameris as “the prototypical community bank,” Spencer said Ameris didn’t delve into complicated or risky loans like subprime mortgages.

Ameris operates 46 locations of Ameris Bank in south Georgia, north Florida, Alabama and South Carolina.

On Tuesday, United Community Banks Inc. became the third Georgia-based bank to participate in the U.S. Treasury’s Capital Purchase Program. The banking company relied on longtime counsel at Kilpatrick Stockton, including partner Richard Cheatham and associate James Stevens, for advice on participating in the program, according to the law firm.

United will issue $180 million of senior preferred stock to the Treasury, along with warrants to purchase $27 million in common stock, according to a news release. United said it will use the capital to expand lending and consider possible bank acquisitions.

In addition to United, SunTrust Banks Inc. and Synovus Financial Corp. are also participating in the Treasury program. SunTrust was approved to receive $3.5 billion and Synovus was approved for $973 million.

Headquartered in Blairsville, United Community Banks is the third-largest Georgia-based bank holding company, after SunTrust and Synovus. United operates 27 community banks, with 108 offices, in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Alston & Bird partner Rosemarie Thurston [photo, right] is advising a broker-dealer that’s managing the initial public offering of a newly formed business development company.

Thurston’s client, FS² Capital Partners LLC of Orlando, Fla., is the broker-dealer for FS Investment Corp. FS Investment Corp. was established earlier this year, under the terms of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as a business development company. A BDC is a fund that provides individual investors the opportunity to invest in private equity and private debt offerings.

Some BDCs, such as Apollo Investment Corp. and BlackRock Kelso Capital Corp., are publicly traded. However, FS Investments Corp.’s shares will not be publicly traded, the company said. FS Investment Corp.’s offering will be the first “non-listed” public offering by a BDC, according to FS Investment Corp.’s legal counsel, Sutherland partners Steven Boehm and Cynthia Krus in Washington.

FS Investment Corp., based in Philadelphia, said in regulatory filings that it plans to offer equity and debt investments in small and medium-sized, privately owned U.S. companies.

FS² Capital Partners is affiliated with FS Investment Corp. FS Investment Corp. was formerly known as Franklin Square Investment Corp.

A company getting ready to put itself up for sale often clears its deck of businesses and other assets that aren’t central to its core business strategy. The thought is that a leaner, meaner company is more attractive to a potential acquirer.

It’s unknown whether that was the case with SunTrust Banks Inc., which in September pared a non-core asset. SunTrust has been rumored for months to be ripe for a takeover. Last month, Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. banking industry analyst Richard Bove suggested that SunTrust merge with BB&T or Regions Financial.

In the September deal, SunTrust sold its Fleet One business to a private equity group for undisclosed terms. King & Spalding partner Bill Baxley advised SunTrust on the sale.

Fleet One, of Nashville, Tenn., is engaged in the business of providing fuel charge cards and management services to companies that operate fleets of trucks and other vehicles. SunTrust picked up Fleet One in 2004 as part of its acquisition National Commerce Financial Corp. of Memphis, Tenn.

SunTrust hasn’t said whether it’s looking for a buyer. SunTrust is participating in the U.S. Treasury Department’s program of making equity investments in banks. Treasury is acquiring $3.5 billion in preferred shares in SunTrust, which has said it plans to use the money to expand lending and possibly acquire other banks.

Pepper Hamilton advised one of Fleet One’s buyers, Philadelphia private-equity fund LLR Partners Inc. Kirkland & Ellis advised the other buyer, FTVentures of San Francisco. Fleet One’s management also participated in the buyout.

As some large banks like BB&T, SunTrust and Fifth Third Bancorp accept funding from the U.S. Treasury Department to weather the credit crisis, smaller banks are taking different steps to bolster their financial position. In one such instance, Powell Goldstein counsel Lyn Schroeder [left] is advising a South Carolina community bank on its plan to take itself private.

First South Bancorp Inc. said in a regulatory filing that it plans to convert some of its publicly traded common stock to preferred stock. The company then plans to terminate its registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The moves will allow First South Bancorp to save money by avoiding the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The company estimated it will save about $110,000 per year in management time, legal and accounting fees and other expenses.

The proposal requires the approval of First South Bancorp shareholders. First South Bancorp said it first began discussing a going-private transaction with Powell Goldstein in May, according to its proxy statement. It considered other alternatives, such as a reserve stock split, before decided to pursue the going-private deal.

First South Bancorp operates six locations of First South Bank in the Palmetto State—in the cities of Bluffton, Columbia, Greenville and Spartanburg.

Powell Goldstein was an adviser on an asset sale that allowed a Georgia bank to exit from the banking industry in North Carolina.

PoGo partner Katherine Koops and associate Amber Nash were counsel to Omni Financial Services Inc. on the sale of four branch offices in Fayetteville, N.C. to Capital Bank Corp. of Raleigh, N.C. Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan in Raleigh advised Capital Bank.

The amount that Capital Bank will pay has not yet been determined, but is based on a formula, according to a regulatory filing. Capital Bank is acquiring deposits and loans from Omni totaling $156 million in value. The sale is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Omni sold the branches because of “the current market environment” and to strengthen its “capital position,” according to a news release.

Omni Financial is the 16th-largest bank holding company headquartered in the state of Georgia, as measured by total assets, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Omni Financial, of Atlanta, operates Omni National Bank, which has locations in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and other locations.

If the deal with Omni closes, Capital Bank will operate 31 bank offices throughout the Tar Heel State. Capital Bank currently has offices in Asheville, Hickory, Pittsboro, Wake Forest and other North Carolina cities.

The financial crisis has postponed, if not canceled altogether, many corporate deals, securities offerings and real estate development projects, economists and attorneys have said.

But a $134 million hotel development near the Georgia International Convention Center and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was just ahead of the storm. The project broke ground on Sept. 12. Bank of America announced it was buying Merrill Lynch on Sept. 15 and Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on the same day.

More than two years in the making, the project, led by Atlanta developer Grove Street Partners LLC, will add two Marriott-branded hotels to a 25-acre site. The hotels will anchor a 1 million-square-foot mixed-use development to be called Gateway Center. It will be the only stop on a new automated people mover between the airport’s baggage claim area and its new rental car facility.

Although the financing closed before the Wall Street maelstrom occurred, Sheley & Hall partner Raymond Sheley [right], lead counsel to Grove Street, said the transaction probably would have proceeded even if it had closed later—thanks to how the deal was structured.

He said financing will come from a combination of equity, bond revenue and debt. The group of debt lenders, led by U.S. Bancorp, won’t be required to fulfill its obligations until Grove Street spends all $51 million of the equity and bond proceeds—about nine months from now.

“The debt lenders said that the national economic turmoil would shake out before they will have to put in their own dollars,” Sheley said. “That lag will be our saving grace.”

The first of the two hotels, a 147-room Spring Hill Suites, is expected to open in February 2010. The second, a 403-room Marriott, should open by August 2010.

U.S. Bancorp never considered pulling out of the deal because of national economic conditions, said U.S. Bancorp’s lead counsel, Seyfarth Shaw partner Mark Block.

“U.S. Bancorp is a very conservative lender, and I think that, between the project developers and the other people backing it, they always felt very comfortable” with this deal, Block said.

One of the development’s financing elements will be proceeds from bonds backed by payments in lieu of taxes, also known as PILOT bonds. Since the site is owned by the city of College Park, and therefore exempt from tax, Grove Partners will make scheduled payments to the city instead of paying taxes.

The Grove Street project will be only the third in the state of Georgia to use PILOT bonds, Sheley said.

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