Capitol Bancorp Completes the Sale of the Main Office of Bank of Tucson and Announces the Planned Divestiture of its Interest in

LANSING, Mich. and PHOENIX, Jan. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Capitol Bancorp Limited ("Capitol") announced today that it has completed the sale of the main office of Bank of Tucson to Grandpoint Capital, Inc., and it has also entered into a stock purchase agreement with Bend, Oregon-based High Desert Bank in which Capitol will sell its majority interest in the bank.

Capitol will retain Bank of Tucson's Nogales branch office with total assets of approximately $40 million and approximately $15.5 million of tangible equity as of September 30, 2010, while also recording a modest deposit premium associated with the sale.  The Nogales branch office is now part of Capitol's Phoenix-based affiliate, Sunrise Bank of Arizona, expanding the bank's Arizona presence to nine offices.

While the Bank of Tucson transaction represents the 14th sale consummated by Capitol during the past 18 months, the announced divestiture of High Desert Bank positions the institution as one of five additional affiliates currently awaiting requisite approvals and contingencies before consummation.

Capitol's Chairman and CEO Joseph D. Reid said, "We are pleased with the continued progress of our strategic divestitures initiative that continues to generate equity capital which is being redirected to Capitol's network of affiliate banks."

"Bank of Tucson's President and CEO Mike Hannley has made significant contributions within the Capitol organization and has been instrumental in operating a first-rate financial institution for the last 14 years.  We wish Mike and his team continued success as they advance their exceptional banking services in the Tucson community."

Reid added, "High Desert Bank is a developing institution with strong community ties.  The bank has established a reliable banking platform to continue serving the Bend community under the leadership of Larry Snyder."

At September 30, 2010, Bank of Tucson's main office had total assets of approximately $175 million.  Capitol divested its other Tucson operation, Southern Arizona Community Bank, to Grandpoint Capital, Inc., in December of 2010.  

At September 30, 2010, High Desert Bank had assets of approximately $37 million.  The transaction is expected to be completed in 2011.    

About Capitol Bancorp Limited

Capitol Bancorp Limited is a national community banking company with a network of bank operations in 14 states. Founded in 1988, Capitol Bancorp Limited has executive offices in Lansing, Michigan and Phoenix, Arizona.

Forward Looking Statement

Certain statements in this announcement contain forward-looking statements that are based on management's expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "believes," "scheduled," "estimates" and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual future results and trends may differ materially from what is forecast in forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors.

All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the company or any person acting on the Corporation's behalf are qualified by the cautionary statements in this press release. The Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update or publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events, circumstances or changes in expectations after the date of this press release.

www.capitolbancorp.com

SOURCE Capitol Bancorp Limited

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