WESTMINISTER, Colo. – The proposed merger of SunCorp FCU into the much larger WesCorp FCU, one of a handful of corporate combinations hatched in 2007, continues to linger with NCUA, as investment losses continue to pile up at the two corporates.
"With the market dislocation the application has been put on hold," said Mark Schieffer, chief investment officer for SunCorp, of the 18-month-old merger plan.
The combination was originally agreed to by both boards in early 2007 and announced in April, but since then the markets’ decline has brought growing losses for both corporates; $1.7 billion in unrealized losses for WesCorp and $118 million for SunCorp.
Around the same time the merger was announced WesCorp acquired Volunteer Corporate FCU; Southwest Corporate FCU combined with Northwest Corporate FCU and Members United Corporate FCU merged with the Central CU Fund, the nation’s oldest corporate.
SunCorp’s Schieffer said they continue to work with NCUA on the WesCorp merger proposal.
NCUA would only say the merger is still being reviewed by its Office of Corporate CUs.
WesCorp declined to comment on the merger.
