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Here's a simple truth:
You only sell your bank once, but you need to build its value every day.
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Selling a bank isn't like selling a house.
You can't just add a fresh coat of paint and expect top dollar (see The Savvy Banker 064 – "Community Bank Hiring Success: 5 Strategic Steps That Maximi...
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"You only sell your bank once."
I hear CEOs say this when they put off preparing for a sale.
But the truth is simple: While you sell just once, you need to build value every day.
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Early in my career, investment bankers taught me something important:
The best bank sales happen because of sma...
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Let me share a counterintuitive truth about bank leadership:
Your most important job as CEO is to make yourself replaceable.
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I've seen too many community bank leaders who believe their personal involvement in every decision is the path to success.
They're wrong.
And if you're planning a po...
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What separates successful bank sales from disappointments?
It's not market timing.
It's not luck.
And it's certainly not the latest M&A trend.
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It's preparation.
When you're prepared, two things happen: your decisions become more confident, and the entire process seems to "slow down" – all...
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The deal closed.
There are a whole host of emotions.
How do you celebrate?
And, with whom?
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Management Team
It’s important to celebrate this milestone with your team and to affirm their transformation into the value-driven leaders they have become.
Sadly, many leaders are so competitive w...
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The deal closed.
The bank you were CEO of, and the holding company (if applicable) no longer exist.
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The duties you had related to the distribution of the merger consideration will remain until they have been fully disbursed.
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Employees and customers begin to look beyond your authority to ...
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In addition to the organic customer calling that has taken place since the announcement, you will have a customer calling blitz as well.
That is a concentrated effort to go to the customer’s place of business for a face- to-face meeting.
The goal of the calling blitz is to make certain you can ...
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The deal has closed, the signs have changed, and as you can imagine, the shareholders are interested in when they receive the merger consideration.
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When selling a home, the documents get signed and the keys are exchanged for the sales proceeds.
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This transaction isn’t that simple, so commu...
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You’ve closed on the merger.
Legal counsel has communicated that everything is done.
Documents have been exchanged, and the deal has closed.
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The paying agent has the funds for distributing the cash merger consideration when shares are surrendered, according to the instructions the sharehold...
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When the announcement for the definitive agreement signing is made, you can only estimate when the closing will be because things like the regulatory approval timing are not in your control.
So, your communication of the closing is typically within a range of a business quarter.
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Because of t...
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Regulatory approval is managed by the buyer.
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If an application is “informationally complete,” it is supposed to be approved 91 days after filing by statute.
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The process could be delayed by information requests from the regulators pushing the “informationally complete” clock.
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Fortunate...
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Legal counsel should guide you through the process of calling a special meeting of the shareholders for the purpose of voting on the merger.
Your corporate documents should spell this all out.
Let your legal counsel review them and guide you to ensure things are done in accordance with those do...
