In Brief: Growing Wis. Company Sets $6M Stock Sale

northern Wisconsin last month is planning to raise more cash to expand 300 miles away in Milwaukee.

The Elcho, Wis., company, which is called The Bancorp, is planning a secondary public stock offering of up to $6 million by mid-October. On Aug. 20 it closed a deal to buy Elcho Bancorp., parent of three-branch Northwoods State Bank, using $3.5 million raised this year from 36 investors.

"It made so much more sense to buy an existing bank rather than to establish a de novo when that would take $5 to $7 million in capital to get what we acquired," said Thom Brown, president and chief executive officer of The Bancorp. "Plus you don't have the established income stream or the buildings that we got through the acquisition."

Mr. Brown, a 35-year banking veteran who previously worked for Tri City National Bank of Oak Creek, Wis., said his new company plans to open a Milwaukee-area office by yearend and another branch near its headquarters next year.

-- Craig Woker

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