Camden in Maine Selling Branch on Anti-Trust Concerns

M&A

Clever Deal in Maine Gives Hope for Creative M&A

Few so-called good bank/bad bank deals have been completed, with regulators or investors serving as key impediments. Bar Harbor Bankshares hopes to become the second acquirer in the past two months to complete such an acquisition.

By Matthew Monks

May 4
Community banking

Camden National in Maine to Acquire Select B of A Branches for $15 Million

The acquisition would add 15 branches and deepen penetration in key markets.

By Alan Kline

April 24

Camden National Bank in Maine has agreed to sell a branch in Rockland, Maine, that it is buying from Bank of America (BAC) because of competition concerns raised by the Justice Department.

The banking unit of The First Bancorp (FNLC) of Damariscotta, Maine, said Monday that it is acquiring the Rockland branch, another building in Bangor, Maine, well as a small volume of loans for about $7.7 million. The $1.4 billion-asset First Bancorp expects to open its first branch in Bangor, the state's third most-populous city, in the first quarter of next year. First Bancorp has 14 branches in the eastern part of the state.

The $2.3 billion-asset Camden, a unit of Camden National Corp. (CAC), said in April that it would buy 15 branches from Bank of America in Maine in a deal that would move it from the No. 5 deposit share position in the state to No. 3. Three of the branches it is buying are in the Bangor market, where Camden already has four branches, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data.

Camden's deals to buy the B of A branches and sell the lone branch to First Bancorp are expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Jackie Stewart

Executive Editor, American Banker Magazine

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