The new financial institutions practice formed by Charter Capital Partners seeks to tap into an emerging consolidation trend involving community banks. Charter plans to target community banks and credit unions that are seeking a merger partner and need an investment bank, said Managing Director John Kerschen. On the sell side, the practice will seek to represent community banks with $1 billion or less in assets that want to sell to a larger partner, he said.
The practice could spread into other areas of the financial services sector such as insurance and is Charter’s latest effort geared toward a specific industry. The firm previously formed practices for the office furniture and energy industries. With the new financial institutions practice addresses increasing M&A activity involving banks and credit unions. “We believe there is significant opportunity for some of the mid-tier banks that may be in the billion-plus range of assets to do acquisitions of smaller banks,” Kerschen said. “There are some industry drivers and regulatory drivers to consolidation, and there’s a segment of the market in the Great Lakes region that’s just not that well served.” Read more at MiBiz