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Primis Financial in McLean, Virginia, is reaping a $22 million gain from selling part of its ownership stake in a fintech focused on serving doctors, dentists and veterinarians.
The $3.7 billion-asset Primis has been
Little Rock, Arkansas-based Panacea has since grown into a thriving specialty lender that’s made more than $500 million of loans. In January 2024, Panacea raised $24.5 million in a series B financing round led by New York-based venture capital fund Valar Ventures.
In March 2025, Primis moved to deconsolidate the fintech from its balance sheet, while also ceding its previous control of the fintech’s lending operations.
Primis’ decision to sell an undisclosed portion of its 19% ownership stake in Panacea, which was announced Thursday, followed three months later.
Primis, the holding company for Primis Bank, did not disclose the buyer or indicate when the deal would close.
Panacea “far exceeded our original expectations, both in terms of growth and the value it has created for all stakeholders,” Primis CEO Dennis Zember said in a press release. He added that Primis will continue to provide Panacea with loan origination and servicing support after the equity sale.
“While this transaction represents an opportunistic monetization of a portion of our investment, it does not alter our conviction in Panacea’s long-term potential or our support for its mission,” Zember said.
Zember did not respond to a request for additional comment by deadline.
Thursday’s announcement of the Panacea divestment came about eight months after Primis opted to sell its life insurance premium finance division to Jacksonville, Florida-based EverBank Financial for a $6 million consideration.
Throughout 2024, Primis struggled to correct
Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Chris Marinac expects the remainder of 2025 to be much smoother for Primis. He wrote in a research note Friday that the company will likely use the proceeds from the Panacea sale to buy back shares, “expand organically” and “pay down any high-cost funding where possible.”
In the wake of the two sales in 2024 and 2025, Primis plans to refocus its efforts on its core community banking franchise in Virginia and Maryland, along with its national retail mortgage and mortgage warehouse businesses.
“Incremental margins in our core bank and in our lines of business are better now than they have been in several years, and importantly the growth has very little to no operating expense lift,” Zember said in the release.
Primis’ involvement in mortgage lending sets it apart from most of the industry, which has de-emphasized home lending. “I think they believe things are going to get better” in the mortgage space, Marinac told American Banker on Friday. “They think they can generate some income and increase profits if rates fall.”
Primis reported sizable losses in 2023 and 2024, driven primarily by outsize provisions and substantial professional services expenses.
Buoyed by the premium finance sale and the benefits from its decision to de-consolidate Panacea, the company reported net income totaling $22.6 million for the three months ending March 31.
Marinac believes the trend will continue throughout the remainder of 2025 and into 2026. He’s forecasting full-year net income of $1.05 per share this year and $1.52 in 2026.
Primis’ experience with Panacea — partnering with the company as a startup, supporting its growth and benefiting as it matured into a successful company — “serves as a success case study for an industry searching for valuable, organic growth ideas,” Zember said in the release.
The recent series B financing round supports that theory, according to Marinac. “The fact private equity people are putting in money endorses the value in Panacea,” he said.