Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc., the parent
company of Berkshire Bank, which has offices
in Saratoga Springs, Clifton Park and Halfmoon,
signed an agreement for the acquisition of privately
held Firestone Financial Corp. as an operating
subsidiary of Berkshire Bank.
Based in Needham, Mass., Firestone is a longstanding
commercial specialty finance company
providing secured installment loan equipment
financing for small and medium-sized businesses.
“Firestone is a terrific fit for Berkshire Bank,”
said Berkshire CEO Michael Daly.
“The strength
of the management team and their conservative
approach to credit has made them a solid performing
finance company. Our strategic decision
to complement our strong asset based lending
platform with this commercial lending business
enables us to further diversify our assets while
expanding our client offerings. We look forward
to adding Firestone’s expertise to our organization,
and taking advantage of the synergies available
through this acquisition.”
George Bacigalupo, Berkshire’s executive vice
president of commercial banking, said his company
is “pleased to expand our commercial platform
with this attractive acquisition. The addition of
Firestone enhances both the geographic and categorical
diversification of our loan portfolio while
providing a valuable additional growth channel
for us. The business will continue to be run by
Firestone’s talented management team and their
experience and conservative relationship-based approach makes this a great fit for our organization.”
Firestone CEO David Cohen said with Berkshire’s
resources, “We believe we can be a significant
contributor to the continued growth and
profitability of this organization. We remain committed
to our markets and customers, and through
this partnership we will be able to offer additional
services to help facilitate their continued growth.”
Firestone has been in business for 50 years
and is led by industry veterans Cohen and Scott
A. Cooper, both of whom joined the company in
the mid-1980s. The senior management team will
continue to run the business following the closing.
As of March 31, Firestone had approximately
$190 million in loans outstanding spread across
multiple industries and market areas. Borrowers
are widely dispersed with no state comprising more
than 11 percent of the outstanding balance and
the largest borrower representing just 1.2 percent
of outstandings.
The weighted average yield on the portfolio
at quarter end was 9.8 percent and its weighted
average remaining maturity was 36 months. The
portfolio’s net charge-off rate has not exceeded 0.23
percent in any of the last three years.
Berkshire Hills Bancorp has approximately
$7.3 billion in assets and 96 full service branch offices
in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, and
Vermont providing personal and business banking,
insurance, and wealth management services. For
more information, visit www.berkshirebank.com.