Green Bay-based Associated Banc-Corp has agreed to acquire the Wisconsin branch banking operations of Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington Bancshares Inc. The cash transaction, which has a net premium of about $34 million, is expected to close in the first half of 2019. The transaction price was not disclosed.
Associated Bank N.A. would take on about $850 million in deposits, $134 million in loans and 32 Huntington National Bank branches.
The FDIC lists 35 Huntington branches in Wisconsin: three in Green Bay, two in Milwaukee, two in Antigo, and one each in Pulaski, Suamico, Appleton, Madison, Superior, Brodhead, Jefferson, Algoma, Darlington, Tomahawk, Kiel, Marinette, Lena, Oconto, Suring, Townsend, Minocqua, Kaukauna, Clear Lake, Stevens Point, Janesville, Boulder Junction, Manitowish Waters, Elkhorn, Menomonee Falls, Wautoma, Oshkosh and Winneconne.
An Associated Bank spokeswoman said no decision has been made yet on potential branch closures, and Associated is expected to finalize those plans in its Office of the Comptroller of the Currency filing in the first quarter of 2019. In a map of existing and acquired branches presented by Associated Bank in a slide deck about the transaction, several branches overlap others geographically.
The acquisition would expand Associated Bank’s reach to an additional 13 Wisconsin cities, adding 60,000 deposit accounts and 33,000 households.
According to its most recent call report submitted to the FDIC, Huntington had $1.2 billion in net income for 2018 as of the end of the third quarter. It has $105.8 billion in total assets and 14,949 employees.
Associated Banc-Corp has about $33 billion in assets and more than 230 branches in Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota. It also has commercial offerings in Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Texas. As of the end of the third quarter, Associated had 4,676 FTE employees and $260.1 million in net income for 2018.
According to Associated, the transaction is a good fit because of the banks’ similar customer, product and revenue mix. At the time of closing, Huntington would also undergo conversion to Associated systems, which is expected to result in about 45 percent cost savings. The acquisition is not expected to have a significant impact on Associated’s earnings next year.
“We are excited for the opportunity to welcome Huntington’s Wisconsin customers to Associated Bank as we strengthen our franchise and expand services into 13 additional communities,” said Philip Flynn, president and chief executive officer of Associated. “Ultimately, the scale and efficiencies we gain will position us to make investments to further enhance the customer experience and deliver increased value to our customers, colleagues, communities and shareholders.”
