United Community to sell a high-achieving equipment-finance unit

June 13, 2026 - 02:35

United Community Banks is moving to sell its high-performing equipment finance division, Navitas Credit Corp., as the lender works to keep a key portfolio metric in check. CEO Lynn Harton said the Greenville, South Carolina-based bank has spent the past year struggling to prevent Navitas from exceeding the internal limit set for its growing loan book. That cap is roughly 10% of the bank's total loans.

Navitas has been a standout unit for United Community, consistently delivering strong returns. But its rapid growth pushed it close to, and sometimes over, that self-imposed boundary. Rather than slow down the division's momentum or risk concentration issues, leadership decided to sell. The move allows the bank to shed the asset while locking in a gain from the sale.

Harton described the decision as a strategic pivot. He noted that keeping Navitas within the portfolio would have required either capping its growth or making it a much larger part of the bank's balance sheet. Neither option appealed to management. Selling the unit, he said, frees up capital and management attention for other priorities.

The sale is expected to close in the coming months, pending regulatory approval. United Community did not disclose the buyer or the sale price in its announcement. The bank plans to use proceeds from the deal to support other lending areas and potentially buy back shares. Analysts viewed the move as a disciplined response to a good problem: a business that simply grew too fast for its parent company's comfort.