CoVantage Credit Union plans to complete its acquisition of CentralAlliance Credit Union at the start of next year following approval by regulators and its central Wisconsin members.
The combination will increase CoVantage’s size by about 5% based on assets and members as of June 30.
CoVantage of Antigo, Wis. ($1.6 billion in assets, 104,119 members) plans to effect the merger with CentralAlliance of Neenah, Wis. ($79.2 million in assets, 5,072 members) on Jan. 1, 2019.
Neenah is about 100 miles southeast of Antigo and on the banks of Lake Winnebago. All three former CentralAlliance offices in Neenah, Appleton and Menasha will remain open with expanded office hours and all staff will remain employed with CoVantage.
As of June 30, CentralAlliance had 16 full-time and two part-time employees. CoVantage had 350 full-time and 28 part-time employees at 16 offices across Wisconsin and upper Michigan.
Tonni Larson, president/CEO of CentralAlliance, said the merger is an opportunity for its members, who approved the deal July 31.
“CoVantage shares the same beliefs that we do—of service, value and commitment to improving the lives of members and employees well into the future,” Larson said. “There will be many benefits of membership in this larger credit union, including a wider variety of products and services.”
CoVantage President/CEO Charlie Zanayed said it will extend its broad line of loan and deposit services for individuals and businesses, an extensive network of ATMs and a contact center that can be reached from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
“We are humbled and thankful for this opportunity, and look forward to being able to serve the communities of Neenah, Appleton and Menasha with branch locations and state-of-the art technologies,” Zanayed said.
CoVantage’s assets grew 8.2% in the past 12 months, while Central Alliance’s growth was 2.9%.
CoVantage’s annualized return on assets for the six months ending June 30 was 1.30%, down six basis points from a year earlier. Central Alliance’s ROA was 0.94%, also down six basis points.
The NCUA approved 87 mergers from January through June, compared with 95 in the first half of 2017.