adminMidFlorida Credit Union in Lakeland, FL, is buying Community Bank & Trust of Florida in Ocala, FL, making it the largest community bank purchased by a credit union. MidFlorida is expanding its footprint even further with the acquisition of the Florida assets of First American Bank of Iowa. When finalized, the combined entity will boast $4 billion in assets, $3.0 billion in loans, 1,100 employees and 63 full-service branches.
In addition to Community Bank & Trust’s more than $730 million in assets, the bank also manages more than $300 million in trust assets. MidFlorida will be establishing a trust company to manage and geographically expand this service.
“In many communities, credit unions are becoming the primary source for consumer and small business banking,” said Kevin Jones, CEO of MidFlorida. “We hope to strategically acquire additional financial institutions in Florida to expand our affordable consumer and business services. Our goal is for MidFlorida to become the most convenient credit union in Central Florida.”
Hugh Dailey, president and CEO of Community Bank & Trust, will join MidFlorida as the market president for North Florida. MidFlorida will retain all of the branches and branch staff of both banks. All three institutions are financially strong and are complementary in terms of their financial structures. Community Bank & Trust has a strong deposit base in Florida of more than $660 million in Ocala, Gainesville, and The Villages, while First American Bank’s emphasis has been in both commercial and residential mortgage lending in the Naples and Cape Coral markets.
“The synergist effect of the combined institutions will allow MidFlorida to generate deposits in certain markets and lend those deposits to members in another market. In the end, we’ll create an even stronger financial institution for the membership,” said Steve Moseley, president of MidFlorida.
The agreements were approved by the board of directors of each company. The acquisition of the Florida assets of First American Bank of Iowa is expected to happen in November 2019, while the merger with Community Bank & Trust of Florida is expected to close at year end. Both the acquisition and the merger are subject to all required regulatory requirements and approval as well as fulfillment of all customary closing conditions.
According to an article in Credit Union Journal, “this year is on pace to set a record for the number of credit union-bank transactions. So far there have been six of these deals, while there were nine overall in 2018.”
