Bank M&A
02/21/2011

Where My Deals At?


Last summer, Keefe Bruyette & Wood’s released an interesting bank takeover list. It had the usual suspects — potential buyers and potential sellers — and a “surprising” third: potential buyers who could become sellers. I thought back to this report while watching a handful of videos from our annual Acquire or Be Acquired conference over the weekend. With so much discussion at AOBA centering on FDIC-assisted transactions (which we will explore in greater detail in Chicago this May), this survey came back to me as it focused on so-called open-bank consolidation, comprising potential deals that wouldn’t involve a shutdown by the FDIC first.

Quite a few presented their views on non-distressed bank mergers at our 17th annual M&A conference —  forecasting a huge wave of bank M&A driven by aging management, the need to cut expenses and boost earnings, heightened regulatory costs and more. Of course, FDIC-assisted bank transactions continue to attract strategic acquirers, and the bidding process remains competitive. So “escaping” this particular discussion at our event proved nearly impossible. Indeed, for any healthy bank, considering this type of deal as a growth strategy bears real consideration.  

Case-in-point, this short video of Ben Plotkin, Vice Chairman of Stifel Nicolaus & Co.and long-time Bank Director supporter. We asked Ben to provide his thoughts on the impact of FDIC-assisted deals on M&A activity when we were together at AOBA; take a look:

A random fact that might interest only me…

As we celebrate President’s Day today, February 22, did you know today’s federal holiday celebrates George Washington’s birthday? In fact, this is the first federal holiday to honor an American citizen — celebrated on Washington’s actual birthday in 1796 (the last full year of his presidency).

WRITTEN BY

Al Dominick

Board Member

Al Dominick serves on the board of DirectorCorps, Inc. The former CEO of Bank Director | FinXTech, he is a partner at Cornerstone Advisors.

Prior to Cornerstone and Bank Director | FinXTech, he ran the business development efforts for Computech, a Bethesda, Maryland-based information technology firm (now part of NCI — NASDAQ: NCIT). Before that, he worked for Board Member, Inc. in a variety of revenue-generating roles.

A 1999 graduate of Washington & Lee University, where he majored in Politics and was a four-year letterman on the varsity baseball team, he earned an MBA from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business in 2007.