TUCSON, Ariz. – Pima FCU said yesterday it has acquired Desert Energy CU, a local credit union with $61 million in assets and 8,500 members.
The combined entity will have $330 million in assets and more than 50,000 members and six branches in Tucson, and one in Springerville, on the eastern edge of Arizona. All employees of Desert Energy will be kept and become part of Pima.
Credit unions in Arizona, one of the four "Sand States" where the troubled real estate market has hurt banks and credit unions, have been undergoing a consolidation over the past year. Last week NCUA said it approved the merger of Sun Country FCU, a $45 million Sun City credit union that lost $400,000 in the first quarter, into Credit Union West, a $350 million Glendale credit union. And more mergers are expected in the coming months.
Desert Energy reported a loss of $638,000 for 2008 and a loss of $451,000 for the first quarter of 2009, most of which was attributed to its cost for the corporate credit union bailout.
