(Source: The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Missouri))

By Mark Davis, The Kansas City Star, Mo.
Nov. 18--At least three more banking companies with area offices have asked for a capital boost from Uncle Sam.
Blue Valley Ban Corp., Team Financial Inc. and Enterprise Financial Services Corp. all confirmed applying last week for their piece of the $125 billion up for grabs.
All three were seeking capital when the U.S. Treasury's offer became available.
"It's pretty cheap capital," said Bob Regnier, CEO of Blue Valley, which owns the Bank of Blue Valley.
Great Southern Bancorp Inc., parent of Great Southern Bank, said Monday it received preliminary approval for up to $60 million in capital from the program.
Marshall & Ilsley Corp., parent of M&I Bank, received $1.715 billion from the Treasury's investment program last week.
Several others, however, have said "no thanks" to the Treasury's Capital Purchase Program funded through the $700 billion financial system bailout that Congress passed last month.
UMB Financial Corp., Commerce Bancshares Inc. and Capitol Federal Financial each said they would not seek federal capital investment. Each said it had sufficient capital to meet its needs and opportunities.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced the program as a way to induce additional lending by banks in the face of a credit crunch. Treasury said it would invest $250 billion, half of it in nine large institutions and the rest in others via the application process.
Enterprise Financial, parent of Enterprise Bank and Trust, had announced plans to raise up to $62 million in capital before the Treasury funding became available, senior vice president Jerry Mueller said. He said Enterprise applied for the maximum the Treasury program allowed, which equals $62 million, but expects to raise part of its goal privately.
Treasury has said it would only invest in healthier institutions.
Regnier said Blue Valley would expect to receive its funding from the Treasury program before the end of the year. That's about the same time Blue Valley expects to raise $6 million from its existing shareholders through a rights offering.
Team Financial, parent of TeamBank, previously disclosed regulators had ordered it to raise additional capital. Chief operating officer Sandy Moll confirmed Team had applied for a Treasury investment but was unavailable to provide details Monday.
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