CBC Capitol Bancorp Ltd. Common Stock

LANSING, Mich. and PHOENIX, July 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Capitol Bancorp Limited (NYSE:CBC), announced today that it has entered into a stock redemption agreement with Bank of Belleville to sell its 51 percent interest in the bank. Subject to regulatory approval, Capitol will receive approximately 1.42 times the bank's book value for its shares. The sale of Capitol's interest in Bank of Belleville is consistent with the Corporation's well-publicized efforts to harness resources, deleverage the consolidated balance sheet and preserve capital. "This is another step in our strategic initiative to maintain capital strength to weather the recession and support our affiliate bank network," said Capitol Bancorp's Chairman and CEO Joseph D. Reid. "We are pleased to have partnered with the community organizers to launch Bank of Belleville in 2005 while assisting this talented team in building a solid banking platform. The bank's management and board of directors' sound banking skills and extensive market knowledge have contributed to the bank's success, and will also help the bank to continue delivering exemplary banking services in the Belleville market," commented Reid. Bank of Belleville will retain Capitol to provide certain services, including accounting, data & proof processing and wealth management services. The transaction is expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2009. About Capitol Bancorp Limited Capitol Bancorp Limited (NYSE:CBC) is a $5.8 billion national community banking company, with a network of separately chartered banks in 17 states. It is the holder of the most individual bank charters in the country. Founded in 1988, Capitol Bancorp Limited has executive offices in Lansing, Michigan, and Phoenix, Arizona. About Bank of Belleville Bank of Belleville, founded in 2005, is a full-service commercial bank specializing in providing a complete menu of banking services for small and mid-sized businesses. The bank is located at 720 W. Main St. in downtown Belleville. 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. DATASOURCE: Capitol Bancorp Limited CONTACT: Analysts: Michael M. Moran, Chief of Capital Markets, +1-877-884-5662, or Media: Stephanie Swan, Director of Shareholder Services, +1-517-487-6555, both of Capitol Bancorp Limited Web Site: http://www.capitolbancorp.com/

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