MVB to buy government-guaranteed lender for $98 million

MVB Financial in Fairmont, West Virginia, has agreed to buy Integrated Financial Holdings in North Carolina for $98 million in an effort to accelerate the growth of its government-guaranteed lending business.

The $3 billion-asset MVB said in a release Friday announcing the all-stock deal that Integrated Financial would give it prominent Small Business Administration and United States Department of Agriculture loan origination and servicing operations.

Integrated Financial is based in Raleigh and is the parent company of West Town Bank & Trust and Windsor Advantage. The bank has about $435 million of assets, $326 million of loans and $334 million of deposits. Since 2018, its government-guaranteed lending teams have originated more than $1 billion of loans. Windsor is a national lending services provider, offering financial institutions an outsourced SBA and USDA lending platform. It services more than $2 billion of loans.

"Both [are] strong companies on our own, [and] together we become a national leader in government-guaranteed lending, specifically SBA and USDA lending," Larry Mazza, MVB Financial's chief executive, said in the release. "We believe we have an excellent cultural fit and outstanding additions of talent."

MVB launched its SBA lending operation in early 2021. For the first half of this year, the bank reported SBA loan production of $101 million, up threefold from the same period a year earlier.

Upon completion of the deal, Integrated Financial President and CEO Eric Bergevin plans to join MVB's leadership team as a direct report to Mazza. Riddick Skinner, the target's head of government lending, and Michael Breckheimer, who is in charge of corporate strategy for Integrated Financial, plan to join MVB as well.

"We are excited to embark on this strategic alliance with MVB to create what we believe will be an industry-leading juggernaut in government-guaranteed lending," Bergevin said in the release.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter. MVB said the deal would be accretive to tangible book value per share by approximately 15% next year.