Bank M&A
01/04/2019

The Three M&A Virtues of M&T


merger-1-4-19.pngM&T Bank Corp.—the $117 billion asset bank holding company headquartered in Buffalo, New York—is well-known for its disciplined approach to M&A, a strategy that has served the big regional bank well through the 18 whole-bank acquisitions it has made since 1987.

Its most recent deal, which closed in November 2015, was also its biggest—the purchase of Hudson City Bancorp, a Paramus, New Jersey-based regional thrift that expanded M&T’s reach in New Jersey, Connecticut and parts of New York City, adding $37 billion in assets and $18 billion in deposits.

The well-priced deal led to M&T’s first-place tie with Phoenix, Arizona-based Western Alliance Bancorp. for the Best M&A Strategy in Bank Director’s 2019 RankingBanking study.

Given M&T’s three decades of successful deals, Bank Director interviewed M&T Chief Financial Officer Darren King to explore the bank’s philosophy around M&A. He says three values drive its M&A strategy.

The first—and perhaps most important value—is patience. Put simply, if a deal doesn’t align with M&T’s strategy, it won’t happen.

“We’ve never been a bank that’s been interested in growth just for growth’s sake,” says King. M&T is laser-focused on getting a return on the dollars invested, whether that’s for an acquisition, an investment in technology or any other investment made to grow and improve the business.

“Our job is to provide our shareholders with a better-than-average return on their investment,” says King. That focus on returns—rather than chasing growth—yields the discipline the bank needs to execute on its strategy.

Part of that patience means the bank will wait for the right partner—one that is committed to the long-term success of the deal. This is the second value that drives dealmaking at M&T.

“One of the places that helps you earn that return [on investment] is the price that you pay,” says King. Committed partners tend to hold to a more long-term view on that point. “Our hope is that anyone who is a willing partner—which is precondition for us for the combination—would like to be paid in our stock, and therefore the price [paid] isn’t necessarily a reflection of the value that would be created for both [entities’] shareholders by putting the two organizations together.” A lower price in a successful transaction will have a positive impact on M&T’s stock—which benefits the seller as a stockholder.

Having so-called skin in the game by taking stock in the transaction also represents a commitment from the seller that the acquired bank’s management team will stay on board to ensure the future success of the merged entity—and raise the value of the stock.

“They don’t want someone to sell their bank to M&T, and go away and retire,” says Brian Klock, a managing director at Keefe, Bruyette and Woods, who covers M&T. “They want to have those local managers and executives that will make a difference and be the M&T leader in that market, so they want those executives to stay around. If they take M&T stock and don’t take as big a price, that’s a commitment from the bank that’s selling to them.”

The final value for M&T is its consideration for the size and location of the target.

“We’re cautious not to go too big, because then it increases the risk,” says King. Integrating a large deal can get out of hand if a bank bites off more than it can chew. But a deal can’t be too small either, he says, because some of the risks related to integration and conversion aren’t scalable. “If you’re going to take on that risk, it needs to be worth the trip,” King says.

M&T also prefers in-market deals or locations in contiguous markets, where its brand is well known.

Outsiders may see M&T as a bank focused on price, but that’s not the case, says King. “If you look at our history, people would describe us as focused on price, and we buy troubled assets,” he says.

Economic downturns tend to yield troubled franchises with strong long-term potential. Having the discipline to focus on long-term returns—not just price—puts M&T in a position to take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace. M&T scooped up four banks—totaling more than $10 billion in assets—from late 2007 through August 2009. It gained another $10.8 billion through its acquisition of Wilmington Trust in May 2011.

It’s often said the best deal is the one you don’t make. By making deals that adhere to three key M&A virtues—patience, focusing on in-market targets that are the right size, and finding a committed partner—M&T’s disciplined approach has served it well.

WRITTEN BY

Emily McCormick

Vice President of Editorial & Research

Emily McCormick is Vice President of Editorial & Research for Bank Director. Emily oversees research projects, from in-depth reports to Bank Director’s annual surveys on M&A, risk, compensation, governance and technology. She also manages content for the Bank Services Program. In addition to regularly speaking and moderating discussions at Bank Director’s in-person and virtual events, Emily regularly writes and edits for Bank Director magazine and BankDirector.com. She started her career in the circulation department at the Knoxville News-Sentinel, and graduated summa cum laude from The University of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and International Business.