Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc., the parent
\ncompany of Berkshire Bank, which has offices
\nin Saratoga Springs, Clifton Park and
\nHalfmoon, signed an agreement for the
\nacquisition of privately held Firestone Financial
\nCorp. as an operating subsidiary of
\nBerkshire Bank.<\/p>\n
Based in Needham, Mass., Firestone is a
\nlongstanding commercial specialty finance
\ncompany providing secured installment loan
\nequipment financing for small and medium sized
\nbusinesses.<\/p>\n
“Firestone is a terrific fit for Berkshire
\nBank,” said Berkshire CEO Michael Daly.
\n“The strength of the management team and
\ntheir conservative approach to credit has
\nmade them a solid performing finance company.
\nOur strategic decision to complement
\nour strong asset based lending platform with
\nthis commercial lending business enables us
\nto further diversify our assets while expanding
\nour client offerings. We look forward to
\nadding Firestone’s expertise to our organization,
\nand taking advantage of the synergies
\navailable through this acquisition.”<\/p>\n
George Bacigalupo, Berkshire’s executive
\nvice president of commercial banking,
\nsaid his company is “pleased to expand our
\ncommercial platform with this attractive
\nacquisition. The addition of Firestone enhances
\nboth the geographic and categorical
\ndiversification of our loan portfolio while
\nproviding a valuable additional growth channel
\nfor us. The business will continue to be
\nrun by Firestone’s talented management
\nteam and their experience and conservative relationship-based approach makes this a
\ngreat fit for our organization.”<\/p>\n
Firestone CEO David Cohen said with
\nBerkshire’s resources, “We believe we can
\nbe a significant contributor to the continued
\ngrowth and profitability of this organization.
\nWe remain committed to our markets and
\ncustomers, and through this partnership we
\nwill be able to offer additional services to help
\nfacilitate their continued growth.”<\/p>\n
Firestone has been in business for 50
\nyears and is led by industry veterans Cohen
\nand Scott A. Cooper, both of whom joined
\nthe company in the mid-1980s. The senior
\nmanagement team will continue to run the
\nbusiness following the closing.<\/p>\n
As of March 31, Firestone had approximately
\n$190 million in loans outstanding
\nspread across multiple industries and market
\nareas. Borrowers are widely dispersed with no
\nstate comprising more than 11 percent of the
\noutstanding balance and the largest borrower
\nrepresenting just 1.2 percent of outstandings.<\/p>\n
The weighted average yield on the portfolio
\nat quarter end was 9.8 percent and its
\nweighted average remaining maturity was 36
\nmonths. The portfolio’s net charge-off rate
\nhas not exceeded 0.23 percent in any of the
\nlast three years.<\/p>\n
Berkshire Hills Bancorp has approximately
\n$7.3 billion in assets and 96 full service
\nbranch offices in Massachusetts, New York,
\nConnecticut, and Vermont providing personal
\nand business banking, insurance, and wealth
\nmanagement services. For more information,
\nvisit www.berkshirebank.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc., the parent company of Berkshire Bank, which has offices in Saratoga Springs, Clifton Park and Halfmoon, signed an agreement for the acquisition of privately held Firestone Financial Corp. as an operating subsidiary of Berkshire Bank. Based…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[60,66],"yoast_head":"\r\n