KALAMAZOO, Mich.—The attorney who pioneered credit union purchases of banks—having completed more than 35 such deals—has moved to a new law firm.
Michael Bell is now a partner and co-chair of the Financial Institutions Practice Group at Honigman, LLP here.
Previously, Bell was an attorney with Royal-Oak Mich.-based Howard & Howard.
“Honigman is the 129th largest law firm in the country, according to American Lawyer, and is ranked number four nationally and number nine globally in 2019 in merger and acquisition deals,” said Bell, who noted he will continue representing credit unions in bank buy deals. “I am bringing my expertise in this specialized M&A area and Honigman is providing their overall expertise and depth in M&A. It’s a powerful combination.”
Bell recently told CUToday.info the coronavirus pandemic has caused a number of credit unions considering buying a bank to hit the pause button, but said that several of these agreements are currently in progress and that coming out of the health crisis CUs should see a bigger opportunity to buy whole banks and bank branches.
More in the Pipeline
“Some have paused, while others are still moving forward,” said Bell. “I’d say it’s about a 50-50 split. We closed a transaction in April. We closed another in May, we will close one in a few days, and we have more in the pipeline awaiting regulatory approval. In the past couple of weeks I have seen a sharp uptick in contacts I am receiving from sellers looking for buyers. Now is the time for buyers to take action, expect more announcements very, very soon.”