Seacoast Financial Services Corp. President and CEO Kevin G. Champagne traded his compass for a lantern last week.
In the latest consolidation of the Massachusetts banking market, Sovereign
Bancorp Inc. announced it would buy New Bedford-based Seacoast, parent company
of Compass Bank and Nantucket Bank. During his 34-year tenure at Seacoast, Champagne
took the bank public, and made it a player in the state by driving the bank’s
assets up and building a strong auto-lending operation.
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“When (Bank of America) acquired Fleet last year, the entire industry felt
pressure to show interest in acquisitions,” said Champagne, who will join the
Sovereign board of directors following the deal.
“We’ve grown our business to a $5 billion dollar company and we believe that
dedication will continue under Sovereign. For us to get to the $10 or $20 billion
level, we would have had to make changes involving risk,” he said. “Then Sovereign
comes along and in one swift step takes us where we want to be, without the
risk.”
Other decisions by the bank that were applauded by banking analysts and stockholders
included:
•In December 2000, Seacoast completed its acquisition of Home Port Bancorp
Inc., the holding company for Nantucket Bank.
• In June 2003, Seacoast acquired Bay State Bancorp Inc. and its wholly owned
subsidiary, Bay State Federal Savings Bank.
• October 2003, Seacoast announced it would acquire Abington Bancorp Inc. and
its wholly owned subsidiary, Abington Savings Bank. Abington is a $950 million
bank that operates 17 branch offices in the southeastern metropolitan Boston
area.
With the Abington acquisition, Seacoast will rank as the seventh largest in
deposit market share in Massachusetts.
Laurie Hunsicker, a senior analyst at FBR Ramsey in Arlington, Va., said her
company has followed Seacoast and Champagne since the company went public seven
years ago. She credits the CEO with doing all the things that make shareholders
happy.
“He grew Seacoast internally and externally while maintaining asset quality,”
she said. “That’s something shareholders like to see.”
She cites the recent acquisition of Bay State Bank in June and the pending
acquisition of Abington Savings Bank, both of which gave Compass Bank a solid
foothold in southeastern Massachusetts.
Bill McCrystal, analyst with McConnell, Budd, Romano in Morristown, N.J., said
Champagne’s performance at the company proves he had a positive impact.
“He brought the bank up from $100 million in assets to one with more than
$5 billion, that’s the ultimate arbiter of success,” he said. “Also, though,
in all the companies I deal with, I never heard anyone speak about him in a
negative way.”
Although he didn’t know Champagne personally, McCrystal said the Seacoast CEO
was the type to listen to ideas from his managers and doesn’t “dominate the
company.”
Champagne, 54, a resident of New Bedford, started his banking career with
Compass and has held his position as president and CEO since 1994. He will take
a directorship position for Sovereign Bank and be a member of its Southeastern
Massachusetts Advisory Board once the deal is closed in July or August.
In a May 2002 interview with the Providence Business News, Champagne said the
biggest mistake Compass could make would be if they didn’t take every opportunity
to grow, but added “there is no secret that bigger banks make it difficult for
customers to do business with them.”
When asked to address that opinion, Champagne said, “We at Compass Bank employ
a philosophy to empower the customer with the ability to make decisions. We
see that same philosophy in Sovereign Bank, with their red-carpet services,”
Champagne said. “It isn’t always the case that large means less personal service.”
Champagne said he is also pleased with Sovereign’s promise to maintain Compass
Bank’s charitable donations for five years following the acquisition.
New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce President Jim Mathes said for as long
as he’s known Champagne in his 20 years with the Chamber, he has always gone
out of his way to help the community.
“Compass Bank has been part of the fabric of this community. I can’t think
of a Chamber event it hasn’t supported. They have representatives on our board,
and (Champagne) is extremely active with the community,” Mathes said.
