Macatawa Bank Acquired By Wintrust Financial Corp. for $510m

Wintrust Financial Corporation, a financial holding company headquartered in Illinois, USA, has recently entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Macatawa Bank Corporation, a Michigan state-chartered bank, in an all-stock transaction. The acquisition is valued at approximately $510.3 million, or $14.85 per share, although this amount is subject to potential adjustments. The transaction is subject to approval by banking regulators and Macatawa's shareholders and is expected to be finalized in the second half of 2024.

Macatawa Bank Corporation ( MCBC ), founded in 1997, manages a network of 26 full-service branches in Michigan's Ottawa, Kent, and northern Allegan counties. The bank claims to have managed approximately $2.7 billion in assets, $1.3 billion in loans, and $2.4 billion in deposits as of December 31, 2023.

Richard Postma, Chairman of the Board at Macatawa Bank, expressed his opinion that the agreement with Wintrust would enable the bank to maintain its "consumer and commercial community presence" in the West Michigan area by retaining the "Macatawa Bank name, its key employees, branches, and a legally constituted community bank board, as a separately chartered bank."

Timothy Crane, President and CEO of Wintrust, stated that the company is purchasing a "very solid bank" in Macatawa, adding that the firm has a strong core deposit base and a "committed leadership team."

Wintrust currently has approximately $57 billion assets and operates "fifteen community bank subsidiaries, with over 170 banking locations located in the greater Chicago and southern Wisconsin market areas."

Regarding the technical outlook, shares of Macatawa Bank Corporation ( MCBC ) are trading above the 200-day Moving Average within the overbought region, with a Relative Strength Index (RSI) of 86.56. The stock has a huge gap, and the up gap side-by-side white lines is a bullish continuation pattern with the following characteristics: the market is in an uptrend, the first candle is a white candle, the second candle opens above the close of the first candle (gap up), and the third candle has a real body with the same length as the second candle with an open that's at the same level or higher than the real body of the first candle.