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No one viewed Cincinnati-based First Financial Bancorp's $1 billion acquisition of Greensburg-based MainSource Financial Group, announced this summer, as a merger of equals. After all, First Financial is nearly double the size of the bank it's gobbling up.
And that's what makes the way the banks are integrating all the more extraordinary. When the deal closes in the first quarter, First Financial CEO Claude Davis will step into the role of executive chairman, and MainSource CEO Archie Brown will take Davis' old job.
Similarly, First Financial Chief Financial Officer John Gavigan is giving up that role and becoming chief administrative officer, clearing the way for MainSource CFO Jamie Anderson to step into his shoes.
Also joining the executive team at First Financial are MainSource Executive Vice President Chris Harrison and Corporate Counsel Karen Woods, a former partner representing financial institutions at Krieg DeVault in Indianapolis.
All of this is unusual in the banking realm, where egos often get in the way of such power sharing, said Mike Renninger, a principal with banking specialist Renninger & Associates in Carmel.
"The thing that is striking about this is the amicability with which this was negotiated," Renninger said. "No doubt, it was the personal relationships that formed first at the CEO level, then the board and senior management levels, that created a level of trust that made this possible."
While Renninger called Davis "magnanimous" for giving up the CEO's job and agreeing to retire in three...