The loan servicing platform of defunct BankFirst, the South Dakota bank that criss-crossed the country signing up banks to lend money on big commercial real estate projects, has been sold. Again.
Ralron Capital Corp. is selling the loan servicing operation, now called Outsource Services Management (OSM), to one of Minnesota businessman Don Larson's companies, sources close to the deal confirmed. Larson is head of Bloomington-based WD Larson Companies, which operates AllState Peterbilt, a chain of semi-truck dealerships across the Upper Midwest. It also has a financial arm called All Wheels Financial that finances rigs.
Larson did not return phone calls.
Ralron is a Nevada company that bought BankFirst's loan servicing business from regulators after they closed the bank last summer. Terms of the deal were still being worked out.
David Grandstrand, former president of OSM, has left. Bill Nimmo, a former executive at commercial developer Opus Northwest, has been named president. Nimmo declined to comment.
Regulators closed BankFirst in July after big losses on commercial real estate loans left it too weak to operate. Parts of BankFirst went to various bidders, with the loan servicing platform going to Ralron. Ralron is owned by Ralph Thomas, a former auto dealer who now lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., and North Dakota potato king Ron Offutt Jr., who is head of Fargo-based RDO Equipment Co., a major farm and construction equipment dealer, and R.D. Offutt Co., one of the largest potato growers in the country.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) is still investigating the failure of BankFirst and has accused former owner Dennis Mathisen and 22 other BankFirst executives and board members of "pervasive and persistent" misconduct, although no legal claims have been made. It's seeking to recover $77.4 million from them and their insurer to help cover the $90 million the FDIC's insurance fund paid out when the bank failed.
BankFirst was part of Marshall BankFirst Corp, an unusual holding company Mathisen ran that held both regulated banks and a nonregulated investment operation, and that ran into trouble with regulators.
