NEW BERLIN, Wis. - Landmark CU said last week it has agreed to acquire four smaller credit unions, including two troubled institutions, Allco CU and First Security CU.
The $1.4-billion CU is just completing acquisitions of Wiscor CU and Lifetime CU, two ailing CUs. Allco, Wiscor and Lifetime are all based in West Allis and First Security is based in nearby Elm Grove.
"Wiscor and Lifetime were completed June 30," said Pat Ransom, Landmark VP-marketing. "We're just waiting for the computer systems to be converted before announcing the other two publicly. Everything's done and approved."
Landmark President Ron Kase said one of the mergers involved regulatory assistance but would not say which one. He said they continue to be interested in potential mergers. "If the right opportunity came along then we would be interested," he said.
Landmark earned $11.6 million in net income (about $8 million after figuring out expenses for the NCUSIF stabilization) for the first six months of the year and had net worth of 7.5%, according to Kase.
Three of the CUs were owners of Central State Mortgage Corp., the mortgage CUSO that went bust earlier this year, causing losses of $255,000 at Allco, $202,500 at First Security and $100,000 at Lifetime.
Allco, a one-time $86-million credit union being shopped by state regulators in recent months, has seen its assets fall to just $52 million, and reported a loss of $705,200 and net worth of just 1.6% at mid-year.
First Security, a one-time $36-million credit union, had a mid-year loss of $2.3 million and net worth of less than 1% at June 30, while its assets had dwindled to $30 million.
Lifetime is a $32-million credit union that lost more than $2 million in the first quarter. Wiscor is a $15 million credit union that lost $116,000 for the first quarter, all of it due to the corporate credit union bailout expense.
