Investment Bank For CU Conversions To GoPublic

WALL STREET - (05/26/06) – Keefe, Bruyette & Woods,the investment bank for small banks and thrifts and which hasreaped millions of dollars converting ex-credit unions, announcedThursday it plans to raise as much as $150 million with an initialpublic offering of about 25% of the company. KBW, one of theleading investment banks for community banks, has been front andcenter in the controversy over credit union conversions to mutualsavings banks, as it has underwritten many of the 15 credit unionsthat have gone public after converting to MSB. In a typical case,KBW can earn as much as $500,000 on an IPO, then additional fees onsecondary offerings. In the latest and largest IPO for a convertedcredit union, KBW stands to earn as much as $1 million on theplanned $110 million offering by Viewpoint Bank, the Plano, Texas,mutual savings bank known till last year as Community CU, accordingto documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Italso underwrote the IPOs for Heritage Financial Group (AGE FCU);First Pacific Bancorp (Pacific Trust FCU), and Rainier PacificFinancial Group (Rainier Pacific CU), and is expected to beunderwriter for a $100 million IPO being planned by OmniAmericanBank, known until 2005 as OmniAmerican CU.