Seven Takeaways from Recent Bank M&A

While we're reluctant to declare that consolidation has made a comeback, several trends are apparent from three big mergers announced over the past week.

Hello again, Bank Slaters!

Wow! Can you believe it is August? It seems like summer is slowly coming to an end, which means fall conference season is around the corner. I’m gearing up for a lot of travel in the coming months.

Excited to share that I will be moderating a panel discussion at the NEXT Forum in Atlantic City, Sept. 8-9. The panel — featuring Brian Love and Keith Daly from Travillian and Flynt Gallagher from Newcleus Compensation Advisors — will discuss bank recruiting, retention, succession and compensation.

After that, I will be on-site at the Future Proof Festival in California, covering emerging trends in asset management. This is going to be an amazing and engaging experience!

I am also assembling a great panel for the Ole Miss Banking & Finance Symposium in early November. More details on my panelists and the topics as the conference nears.

Let’s talk about M&A.

We saw three notable mergers announced recently — Renasant agreeing to buy First Bancshares for $1.2 billion, WesBanco’s $959 million deal for Premier Financial, and German American Bancorp’s deal to acquire Heartland BancCorp for $330 million.

Again, we’re not ready to declare that bank consolidation has made a full comeback. But it appears as though buyers and sellers are finally reaching an understanding on pricing given where we are with interest rates, credit quality, etc. Meanwhile, the underlying reasons to pursue deals — and become sellers — remain relevant.

Here are a few takeaways from the recent spurt of deals.