Another community bank agrees to sell to a credit union

Superior Choice Credit Union in Superior, Wis., has agreed to buy Dairyland State Bank in Bruce, Wis.

The $413 million-asset Superior Choice said in a press release Tuesday that it expects to complete the purchase of the $78 million-asset Dairyland State in the third or fourth quarter. The credit union did not disclose the price it will pay.

Gary Elliott, president and CEO of Superior Choice Credit Union

Dairyland State, which was chartered in 1902 as Luberman’s State Bank, has 12 branches and 35,000 customers throughout northwestern Wisconsin and northeastern Minnesota. Dairyland State customers will become Superior Choice members with all the benefits of access and membership-ownership. The credit union will retain the bank's employees.

The acquisition will be an opportunity to expand Superior Choice’s operations in northwestern Wisconsin, Gary Elliot, the credit union's president and CEO, said in the release.

“We are ecstatic to welcome Dairyland State Bank to our credit union,” Elliott said. “As a locally owned community bank, we know that the values of Dairyland State Bank are already closely aligned with the values that we champion as a member-owned credit union.”

“Dairyland State Bank has taken immense pride in serving our local area,” Robert Hegeholz, the bank's president, said in the release. Superior Choice "is going to do an outstanding job in furthering the work we’ve done, while adding new products and services that Dairyland State Bank customers are going to really appreciate.”

This is the second credit union acquisition of a bank this year, said Michael Bell, a lawyer at Howard & Howard in Royal Oak, Mich., who represented Superior Choice.

“Deal flow and activity in this area is at an all-time high,” Bell said in an email. “Specifically, I am seeing activity centered in the Southeast and the Midwest. Stand by for a couple more announcements in the next 30 to 60 days.”

This article originally appeared in Credit Union Journal.
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Community banking Credit unions M&A Wisconsin
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