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DEAL OF THE YEAR: BANKING/FINANCE
The $510.3 million deal for Macatawa Bank Corp. introduced a new competitor to the West Michigan marketplace in Wintrust Financial Corp.
The transaction that closed Aug. 1, 2024 gave Rosemont, Ill.-based Wintrust Financial a solid position in the three counties — Ottawa, Kent and Allegan — where Macatawa Bank has 26 offices.
Wintrust Financial intends to use that foundation to build a broader presence in Michigan.
Under the deal, Macatawa operates as one of 16 separately chartered community banks that Wintrust Financial owns in Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan. In contrast to most bank mergers, Macatawa Bank retained its name and now has a much larger corporate owner that can support growth.
“We’ll bring some technology and some tools that smaller banks just typically can’t afford,” Wintrust Financial President and CEO Tim Crane told Crain’s Grand Rapids Business after closing on the $510.3 million acquisition last summer.
“Our intention is to provide the Macatawa team the resources and the horsepower to not only compete in the market but to win in the market,” Crane said at the time. “I think together we’ll be a formidable competitor to the regional banks.”
The merger was the largest in years involving a West Michigan bank and was chosen as the winner of the Crain’s Grand Rapids Business 2025 M&A Deal of the Year Award in the banking and finance category.
Founded in 1997, the Holland-based Macatawa Bank at the end of last year had $3.28 billion in total assets and $2.73 billion in total deposits, and recorded net income of $16.2 million, according to a quarterly financial report to the FDIC.
Becoming part of a much larger bank has opened new opportunities for loans and deposits for Macatawa, which now can partner with other community banks within Wintrust Financial to accommodate middle-market clients that need a larger loan or credit.
“We’re getting looks at opportunities that we wouldn’t have had before as an independent, smaller company,” Macatawa Bank CEO Jon Swets told Crain’s Grand Rapids in February. “The ability to go upstream to larger fish in the pond just got enhanced pretty significantly. We get to play in new circles.”
Wintrust Financial (Nasdaq: WTFC) in late January reported $183.5 million in net income for 2024, or $2.63 per diluted share. The corporation ended the year with $64.8 billion in total assets and $52.5 billion in total deposits.
Swets emphasized Wintrust Financial’s intent to grow and expand in Michigan, potentially with additional M&A.
“Expansion has definitely been on Wintrust’s mind, and they view Macatawa Bank to really be the platform, the launching pad from which they expand much further in the state of Michigan,” Swets said at the time. “They’re looking at the whole state, ultimately, and thinking about, ‘Where do we go next? What’s going to make the most sense?’”
In a January conference call to discuss fourth quarter and year-end results, Wintrust’s Crane said the bank remains interested in M&A. Crane noted that since the November election, “there’s a level of enthusiasm (in M&A) that is perhaps increased.”
“We’re investing in the business. We’re building an infrastructure that can support a larger institution, and if we find an opportunity, great. If not, we’re very good at organic growth on a de novo basis,” Crane said.
Warner Norcross + Judd LLP and Morgan Stanley represented Macatawa Bank in the transaction.
The deal’s nomination noted that the transaction marked the first time most of the management team and directors at the publicly traded Macatawa Bank had gone through a merger, “which required intense education and counseling on the process.”
The deal went through regulatory and shareholder approval quickly, closing four months after it was announced on April 1, 2024.
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