The Lake Michigan Credit Union has announced plans to acquire Naples, Florida-based Encore Bank.
The definitive agreement still requires regulatory approval — and a thumbs-up from the local bank’s shareholders.
The boards for each company have already given their OK.
The acquisition would leave just one community bank in Naples and Collier County, First Florida Integrity.
After combining with Encore Bank, the credit union would have $5.6 billion in assets, more than $9 billion in serviced mortgages and 10 locations in Florida, including the six branches now operated by the local bank in Lee, Collier, Charlotte and Hillsborough counties.
In Michigan the credit union has more than 40 branches.
The all-cash deal has been in the works for a few months, said Tom Ray, chief executive officer of Encore. The amount of the offer was not disclosed, but he described it as reasonable and a good value for shareholders of both companies.
The acquisition, he said, would be good for customers too, giving them access to more locations and more services, while maintaining the high level of customer care they’ve come to expect.
In Florida the deal will grow job opportunities and give the credit union a leadership team they don’t have here, he said.
Ray would serve as regional president for the credit union in Florida after the acquisition.
The credit union’s first Florida location opened in 2015.
“We are delighted that Encore Bank has agreed to join with Lake Michigan Credit Union, to help strengthen and expand our presence in the growing Southwest Florida region,” said Sandy Jelinski, Lake Michigan’s president and CEO, in a statement. “We admire Encore’s high-level of personalized service, focus on improving our communities, and the commitment they have to always doing what’s best for their customers.”
Founded in 2010, Encore has about $400 million in assets. It has more than 50 employees, most of whom it expects to keep with the acquisition, Ray said.
While the credit union has a strong consumer product line, Encore has more of a commercial focus, so they’ll be a good fit, helping to pave the way for growth in Florida, he said.
“If we are able to double the size of this organization in the next couple of years, we’ll have opportunities for people,” Ray said.
Garrett Richter, president and CEO of First Florida Integrity, said local banking customers have seen many changes over the years because the banking industry has seen so much consolidation.
He said he wasn’t expecting to hear the news about Encore, but it didn’t surprise him either. In some cases, change can be good, but in others it can be disruptive, opening up opportunities for other banks that remain stable, such as his own, to gain market share.
“We at First Florida Integrity Bank have a community bank strategy that has served us well and served the community well, and we will continue to employ that community bank strategy, whereby we provide an extremely good level of customer service. That is something that we have found over the years that the mega banks have a difficult time duplicating,” Richter said.
