Merchants Bank to be Acquired

As reported by the Burlington Free Press and elsewhere on Monday of this week, Merchants Bank announced its pending acquisition by Community Bank System, Inc. of Syracuse, New York for about $304 million. The transaction was approved by the boards of both organizations.

At approximately $2 billion in assets, Merchants Bank is the largest Vermont chartered bank in the state. It has 32 branch locations throughout the state, and expanded into western Massachusetts. The bank's shareholders will choose to receive cash, shares of Community Bank System, or a combination. Estimates value the gain to shareholders at $44.02 for each share in Merchants Bancshares. The merger is expected to occur in the second quarter of 2017.

According to data from the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (DFR), following the Merchants Bank acquisition, 6 Vermont chartered banks will remain in the state:

Brattleboro Savings & Loan Association - $170m
Northfield Savings Bank - $862m
Passumpsic Savings Bank - $606m
Peoples Trust Companyof St. Albans - $255m
Union Bank - $628m
Wells River Savings Bank - $169m

Another 5 nationally chartered banks are domiciled in Vermont:

Bank of Bennington - $395m
Community National Bank - $596m
First National Bank of Orwell - $57m
Ledyard National Bank - $446m
National Bank of Middlebury - $335m

Another 10 out-of-state-banks also maintain branch locations in Vermont (Bershire, Charter Trust, KeyBank, Lake Sunapee, Masoma, NBT, People's United, Citizens, TD, Trustco).

The total assets of banks and credit unions domiciled in Vermont (not including out of state instituti ons) totals about $10.3 billion (as of 12/31/15), of which Vermont's 21 credit unions comprise about 36%.

Management Minute | from the Association of Vermont Credit Unions