The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Small business lending is showing small signs of growth, according to data compiled by the government.

The total amount of small business loans outstanding at the end of the fourth quarter came to $586 billion, up from $584 billion in the third quarter, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. That was the first quarterly gain in small business lending since the FDIC began tracking loans on a quarterly basis at the start of 2010. The FDIC is a government agency that insures bank deposits and oversees financial companies.

Federal loans are available for some North Carolina small businesses and other entities impacted by the 2012 drought.

According to the Small Business Administration, "federal economic injury disaster loans are available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and most private non-profit organizations of all sizes located in North Carolina as a result of the drought and excessive heat between April 1 and July 31, 2012."

The declaration includes entities in Wake, Durham, Granville, Person, Franklin and Vance counties that experienced financial loss because of the drought.

Farmers, ranchers and agricultural producers are not eligible. Loan applications are due no later than Aug. 12, 2013. For more information and to apply for a loan, go here.

Empire Properties, owned by downtown Raleigh developer Greg Hatem, will receive a $50,000 loan from the city of Raleigh to retrofit a Hargett Street space for its newest tenant-- a digital media company Foursaken Media.

Foursaken Media specializes in building gaming apps as well as projects like websites and software. The company is run by four brothers, Tom, Jamie, Miles and Connor Jackson, who have been working with Hatem for about a month, he said. You may have heard of the first app game they developed: New York Zombies.

The Raleigh City Council approved the loan Tuesday, giving it terms of 3 percent interest for 10 years with a five-year call. The loan is a part of the Downtown Loan Pool program, which was created in 2004 with the goal of extending financing to businesses along Fayetteville Street.

Capital Bank is seeking to raise more than $100 million to shore up its finances, make new loans as the economy recovers and pay for future expansion.

The Raleigh-based community bank scrapped a plan earlier this year to raise $55 million to finance acquisitions, citing poor market conditions. In March, the company raised $8.5 million from private investors.

This morning the bank filed plans to sell 34.5 million new shares on Wall Street. The final amount raised will depend on how much investors are willing to pay.

The bank's stock, which has lost more than half its value in the past year, fell 93 cents to $2.58 this morning.

A loan servicing company with an office in Raleigh is being sold for the fourth time in ten years.

London-based Barclays Bank has reached a deal to sell HomEq Servicing to Ocwen Financial Services for $1.3 billion.

HomEq has roughly 1,200 employees. About 200 are based in Raleigh, with the rest located at the company's main offices in North Highlands, a suburb of Sacramento, Calif.

HomEq services troubled loans for lenders and investors, taking calls from struggling homeowners and working with borrowers to modify their loans or lower interest rates on their mortgages.

West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Ocwen is one of the country's largest subprime loan servicing companies. It has offices in California, Washington D.C., Florida and Georgia as well as operations in India and Uruguay.

Ocwen officials did not immediately return a call seeking comment about whether the acquisition would affect operations at the Raleigh office.