NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. Great Lakes CU on Friday announced it is acquiring new branches in Naperville and Bolingbrook with the merger of Hawthorne CU, an ailing, one-time $160-million credit union.
Hawthorne has had trouble recovering from a $6 million loss in 2009 and had just 4.2% net worth at year-end 2012, as its assets had slid all the way to just $114 million.
The merger brings the opportunity for $525-million Great Lakes CU to spread into new counties and deeper into suburban Cook County, diversifying its membership demographic to all counties in the Chicago area, it said. Currently, Great Lakes has branches in North Chicago, Gurnee and Libertyville.
