Mike Carlton, the president and CEO of Cary-based Crescent State Bank, is leaving the bank he helped launch in 1998 after it is acquired by Piedmont Community Bank Holdings of Raleigh.

Carlton will remain with the bank for 90 days after the acquisition occurs to assist with the transition, the bank wrote in a regulatory filing.

Piedmont received the go-ahead from regulators last month to acquire a controlling stake in Crescent's corporate parent, Crescent Financial Corp. The $75 million deal is expected to close soon.

Scott Custer, the former CEO of Raleigh-based RBC Bank, will become CEO of Crescent Financial when the deal is completed.

Adam Abram, Piedmont's chairman, will be chairman of Crescent Financial.

Piedmont Community Bank Holdings, the new company headed by former RBC Bank CEO Scott Custer, said today it has entered into an agreement to acquire Community Bank of Rowan from Michigan-based Capitol Bancorp Limited.

Terms were not disclosed.

Community Bank of Rowan is based in Salisbury.

Capitol Bancorp, not to be confused with Raleigh-based Capital Bank, is based in Lansing, Michigan.

The bank has been selling off its affiliate banks this year. In its third quarter earnings release on Monday it said it had sold 10 such banks this year and had another five sales pending.

Capital Bancorp reported a $47.7 million loss in the quarter.

Custer has said Piedmont's business strategy is to create a network of banks in the Carolinas and Virginia that can benefit from a centralized infrastructure - such as back-office operations and information technology systems.
 

Scott Custer, the recently departed CEO of RBC Bank, has wasted little time in finding a new gig.

Custer said this afternoon that he has taken over as CEO of Piedmont Community Bank Holdings, a Chapel Hill company that registered in North Carolina late last year.

Custer, who stepped down as RBC's CEO on Nov. 1, declined to comment further on his new job until the company makes a formal announcement about his hiring on Thursday.

According to filings with the Securities Exchange Commission, Piedmont Community Bank Holdings has raised $12 million from investors.