Wintrust Financial Corp. of Lake Forest, Ill., has been growing fast in the past year, mainly through acquisitions, and the $5.8 billion-asset multibank holding company has no plans to slow down.
Two weeks ago, on the same day it bought the $238 million-asset Town Bankshares Ltd. in Delafield, Wis., Wintrust announced an agreement to buy the $438 million-asset Antioch Holding Co. in Illinois for $95 million.
Antioch would be its 13th bank, and the fifth it has bought since September 2003. In the past year it has also built nine branches and started a bank — Beverly Bank and Trust Co., which opened April 1 in Chicago and now has assets of $60 million.
And with plans to issue as much as $200 million in trust-preferred securities, Wintrust is on the lookout for other acquisition targets and is scouting branch sites, said Edward J. Wehmer, its president and chief executive.
Its plan, he said, is to become a Chicago-area version of the $24.7 billion-asset Synovus Financial Corp. of Columbus, Ga., by building a network of independently chartered community banks and other financial companies to compete with large banks while providing personal customer service.
Except for Town Bankshares, Wintrust’s acquisitions have been in the northern suburbs of Chicago. The company also has banks in downtown Chicago and west of the city, and one in the southwest suburbs.
It plans to start a new bank every other year, and for each of its banks to open a branch every two years, in markets stretching from Milwaukee and Madison, Wis., to northwest Indiana.
“We consider our market everyplace that we can get to in an hour and a half by car,” Mr. Wehmer said.
To pay for future deals, Wintrust filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Oct. 6 to offer $200 million more in trust-preferred securities. Its stock, up about 34% since mid-January, is also currency for acquisitions. (It was trading at $56.91 late Friday).
When it buys Antioch, as it is expected to do in the first quarter, Wintrust will have acquired $1.3 billion of assets since September 2003.
Mr. Wehmer said it targets banks that have been started up within five years, because their management teams know their markets and are motivated to increase business. It can consolidate their back-office operations and add products and services.
“We don’t go out and change names and products,” Mr. Wehmer said. “We can literally bolt these banks on, and they fit our culture.”
There is no plan to consolidate them under one charter or name. Using separate charters entails costs, Mr. Wehmer conceded, but Wintrust views those costs as investments.
Meanwhile its profits continue to grow. It earned $13.1 million in the third quarter, 32% more than a year earlier. Earnings per diluted share rose 30%, to 60 cents.
Wintrust bought SGB Corp., the holding company for WestAmerica Mortgage Co. and Guardian Real Estate Services Inc., in May. Wintrust also owns Wayne Hummer Investments, Wayne Hummer Asset Management Co., Wayne Hummer Trust Co., First Insurance Funding Corp., and Tricom Inc., a payroll processor for temp firms.
The lineup provides more diverse revenue than many banks have. It also provides Wintrust’s banks with the resources of bigger ones and more cross-selling opportunities, Mr. Wehmer said.
Kevin K. Reevey, an analyst with BankAtlantic Bancorp’s Ryan Beck & Co. Inc., said the mix enables the banks to concentrate on their communities but provide the products and services of large banks.
Mr. Wehmer said that despite the recent shopping spree, Wintrust will continue to focus on growing organically by building start-ups into a “consortium of community banks.”
Though Wintrust will take advantage of opportunities to buy other banks, managers are the most important factor in developing a new market, he said.
“We really want to get local people who know the market,” Mr. Wehmer said. “Then we can provide the banking muscle to get things up and running.”
