Evansville Teachers Federal Credit Union in Evansville, Ind., has agreed to purchase American Founders Bank in Louisville, Ky.
It would be third credit union acquisition of a bank this year.
The $1.4 billion-asset credit union, which serves 193,000 members across five states, will expand its market share in Louisville with the acquisition of the $113 million-asset bank. Evansville Teachers already has two mortgage loan offices there and would increase its current mortgage production and deposit services with the deal.
The deal is expected to close later this year. The price was not disclosed.
"In conjunction with our strategic business plan, we have been seeking to add several new branch offices in the Louisville market," Bill Schirmer, Evansville Teachers' president and CEO, said in a press release. "This alliance ... will enable us to better serve our existing members in this area in addition to offering our expansive checking and other deposit products to new members as well. The acquisition complements our long-term business strategy.”
Barry Brauch, American Founders' president and CEO, noted Evansville Teachers’ experience in consumer and commercial lending.
“We are pleased that our customers will get many improved services and that their deposits will continue to be protected to the very same level as always,” Brauch said in the release.
Michael Bell, a lawyer at Howard & Howard in Royal Oak, Mich., who represented Evansville Teachers in the deal, recently told Credit Union Journal that credit union acquisitions of banks or bank branches were at an “all-time high,” especially in the Southeast and Midwest.
Bell said another credit union deal to acquire a bank could be announced in the next 10 days.
“The pace continues to quicken," he said by email. "2018 will be a record year for these transactions.”
