Gold of Kansas, Denver Company Cancel Deal After 50% Stock Slide
Gold Banc Corp. of Leawood, Kan., and Union Bankshares of Denver have terminated their merger deal, because Gold's stock price has plunged.Union shareholders were to have gotten Union stock that was worth about $65 million last August, when the deal was announced. But Gold's stock has fallen by about half since then.
"The transaction no longer provides the intended value to our stockholders," said Charles R. Harrison, Union's chief executive officer, in announcing the decision late Friday.
Union has $351 million of assets and Gold $2.1 billion. Each Union share was to have been traded for 1.77 Gold shares if Gold was trading at $11 or more, but Gold closed Friday at $6.625.
The plunge has not stopped Gold from closing other deals. This month it acquired CountryBanc Holding Co. of Edmond, Okla., and First Business Bank of Kansas City.
- Matt Andrejczak
Small Mich. Bank, Mortgage Firm In Reverse-Purchase Merger Deal
A small bank and a commercial mortgage company in Michigan are merging in an unusual reverse-purchase deal. Nominally, Bingham Financial Services Corp. will buy $517 million-asset Franklin Bank in Southfield for $43 million in stock. But Franklin's shareholders would wind up owning 68% of the Bingham, Mich., company.Bingham would issue almost 5.4 million shares for the deal, roughly double its current shares outstanding. Franklin Bank would be Bingham's lead subsidiary. The deal was announced Monday and is to close in the third quarter.
Bingham said it would combine the bank's ability to attract deposits with its loan origination capability.
Bingham owns a commercial mortgage business that last year generated $350 million of loans, a manufactured housing division that produced $500 million of loans, and a business that services $2.2 billion of property loans.
Bingham's chairman, Gary A. Shiffman, and its chief executive officer, Ronald A. Klein would run the combined company. The merged board would consist of six directors from each company.
- Craig Woker
