By Yizhu Wang | Updated on Jun 09, 2026 at 03:30 PM
Climate First Bancorp, a closely held holding company, completed a new round of equity financing to drive growth before pursuing potential acquisitions of small banks in central Florida, where it’s based, likely next year.
The $67 million of fundraising, completed in late May, includes backing from lead investor Wellington Management and participation from AllianceBernstein Holding LP, said Climate First Bank Chief Executive Officer Lex Ford. It’s the bank’s first equity raise from institutional investors and brought its total funding to $222 million.
The five-year-old Climate First Bank wants to boost its asset size by five times to $10 billion by 2031, Ford said in an interview. About $3 billion to $4 billion of that growth is likely to come from acquisitions of local peers, he said.
“You’ll see us chase traditional Florida community banks that have good deposit franchises,” Ford said. “We can deploy loans at a great rate, but deposits are always hard to come by.”
Before making acquisitions, Climate First will also explore an initial public offering to tap the public market for capital. “It’d be a lot easier to acquire a company after we have public currency than trying to offer them stock in a private bank or just paying straight cash,” Ford said.
The sole agent on last month’s private placement was Brean Capital, which has beefed up its financial-services team by adding deal advisers and equity analysts from Janney Montgomery Scott.
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Unlike in many industries, exponential growth in banking often causes concerns among investors. That’s often tied to concentration risk, as banks become specialists in one area and keep doubling down on it, Ford said, adding that his company’s lending categories each account for less than 20% of the total.
Climate First Bank finances residential and commercial solar projects throughout the country, and also serves small businesses in central Florida and those on the state’s east coast. The bank’s holding company owns a financial-technology subsidiary, OneEthos, which provides financing to other lenders and installers of solar panels.