Analyst Takes Romantic View of the Urge to Merge

Citizens Banking Corp. in Flint, Mich., will take a trip down the aisle this year with Southfield, Mich.-based Franklin Bank.

Bank West Financial Corp. in Grand Rapids, Mich., should fall for Ottawa Financial Corp. in Holland, Mich.

And Union Planters in Memphis will sweep Evansville, Ind.-based CNB Bancshares off its feet.

Those are just some possible "love connections" that could occur in banking circles this year, said Michael M. Moran, an analyst at Roney Capital Markets in Detroit.

Though predicting mergers is serious business for most equity analysts, Mr. Moran takes a light-hearted approach to the consolidation wave with his annual list.

And Mr. Moran has a strong record as a matchmaker. Since he began his "romance" list five years ago, half of the takeover targets he has listed have reached deals-though not always with the buyer he predicted.

Still, his predictions are not entirely scientific. Last year's list cited Security First Corp. in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, as a takeover candidate in part because the company's chairman had a romantic name: Charles F. Valentine.

A month after Mr. Moran matched Security First with FirstMerit Corp. of Akron, Ohio, the companies announced they were engaged. "Sometimes I get lucky," Mr. Moran said.

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