Five Star CU Gets NCUA's Final Approval To Buy Flint River Bank

DOTHAN, Ala.-NCUA last Wednesday approved the sale of Flint River National Bank to $260 million Five Star CU here, and the deal is scheduled to close in early June.

"This is a great deal for Five Star, the customers of Flint River and the Camilla, Ga., community," said Michael Bell, attorney and counselor with Royal-Oak, Mich.-based Howard & Howard, who is representing Five Star. "It is also a great deal for the CU industry in general-affirming current innovations and driving new ones."

The deal, which began in September 2013, has been steadily moving toward completion one step at a time:

* In early May the Alabama CU Administration approved the deal.

* In February, the FDIC and OCC-as well as shareholders of the Camilla, Ga.-based Flint River-approved the proposed sale.

* Last year the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance approved a charter expansion for Five Star to include Georgia's Mitchell County.

Flint River was valued at $23 million at the time the deal was signed.

Five deals involving credit unions and banks have been signed in the last two years.

In addition to Five Star, the $1.2 billion Municipal Employees CU has purchased $61 million Baltimore-based Advance Bank; Wisconsin's $2.1 billion Landmark CU acquired $190 million Hartford Savings Bank; Massachusetts' $429 million GFA FCU bought New Hampshire's $83 million Monadnock Savings Bank; and the credit union that put everything in motion-Michigan's $1.6 billion United FCU-acquired $81 million Griffith Savings Bank in Indiana.

Credit: By Ray Birch