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Though profitable, Synovus is still trying to hit its stride. Still, CEO Kessell Stelling told analysts that he wants to make acquisitions at some point in the future.
April 23 -
Regulators let Synovus acquire a failed bank its first deal in four years though it still owes Tarp $968 million. A surprising number of similar deals have occurred in recent years.
May 16 -
The Columbus, Ga., company has righted itself, is pursuing growth opportunities and looks forward to the day when it is strong enough to buy other banks again, CEO Kessel Stelling says.
March 1
Kessel Stelling tells the Synovus story. Take 2.
The chairman and chief executive of the Columbus, Ga., company (SNV) last week took another stab at reassuring investors that he has a realistic growth plan for the coming months.
Concerns were raised in April when Stelling talked about Synovus' M&A prospects, and historic prowess in deals, during his conference call on first-quarter earnings. Some analysts have questioned the $25.9 billion-asset company's prospects for long-term profitability, and how it could afford to make acquisitions. Synovus has long been rumored as a potential takeover target.
Speaking at the Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference on Thursday, Stelling said his comments had been misunderstood. He says he talked about M&A during the April call because analysts asked him about it, not because it's central to his strategy. And he singled out
The first-quarter earnings call "perked ears up so much that I actually went back to review the transcript myself to see if I had been on the same call that I had read about in the American Banker," Stelling said in answering a question about investors' bad memories of past deals that had left it overconcentrated in certain assets. "And it was actually two different calls, so I'm still wanting to hear theirs."
Synovus does not "have an acquisition strategy," and its recent acquisition of the failed
Stelling spoke optimistically about Synovus' performance, saying it was likely to report loan growth in the second quarter. He touted its new business lines, including senior housing, corporate banking, syndications and asset-based lending. He also noted that many of its markets, including Columbia and Charleston in South Carolina and Atlanta, are showing signs of improvement.
"The more rural markets for us are still somewhat challenged, but our major markets are doing well and our bankers are really back to playing offense," he said.
