Harborstone CU Locks in Second Bank Purchase in 7 Months

Shortly before the stock market opened Friday morning, officials with Harborstone Credit Union announced it reached an agreement with Savi Financial Corporation, Inc. to acquire its subsidiary SaviBank in an all-cash transaction.

For the Lakewood, Wash.-based Harborstone ($1.9 billion in assets, 88,207 members), this is its second bank purchase announced in the past seven months. According to Friday’s announcement, under the agreement terms, Harborstone will purchase “substantially all assets and assuming substantially all liabilities of SaviBank.”

Harborstone and SaviBank officials stated boards of directors for both organizations unanimously approved the purchase deal. “Following the completion of the transaction, Savi Financial will liquidate and dissolve and distribute its remaining assets to its stockholders,” the statement read.

Last August, Harborstone announced it was purchasing the $160 million Seattle-based First Sound Bank. During a special meeting in November, shareholders approved the purchase agreement for the credit union to buy the bank for approximately $22 million in cash. The deal is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2024.

Once both bank purchases are complete, officials said Harborstone will grow to approximately $2.7 billion in assets, with $2 billion in loans, $2.3 billion in shares and deposits and will expand its branch network across Washington with 27 branches.

Specific details of the cost of the bank purchase were not disclosed in Friday’s announcement due to a number of market conditions including the price per shares fluctuating prior to the closing date.

“However, management currently estimates that the price per share on a pre-tax basis will fall within a range of $16 to $17 per share of Savi Financial Corporation common stock,” the statement read.

Prior to the purchase announcement, shares of Savi Financial were trading at $10.48. After the announcement Friday morning, shares climbed to $14.75 as of this publishing.

“We look forward to working with Harborstone Credit Union to continue our tradition of fostering meaningful customer relationships while having a positive impact in our local communities,” Michal D. Cann, chairman and president of Savi Financial, said. “We are deeply focused on providing resources and services for our customers to succeed, and believe that the additional services, products and locations Harborstone Credit Union provides will help us continue to meet the financial needs of our customers. Through the unique structure of this acquisition by Harborstone Credit Union, we believe we are maximizing value to our shareholders who have supported us over the years.”

Geoff Bullock, president/CEO of Harborstone, said, “As a member-owned financial institution, the request from our members for more access and ever-improving technology has been at the forefront of our minds. This acquisition achieves that and more. The wisdom of Harborstone Credit Union’s leadership over the past decade has enabled us to both purchase SaviBank with cash that we have saved just for this purpose and to remain very well capitalized. Mike Cann and the Savi team have been building something special up north, and we believe the best is yet to come for both organizations as we come together.”