WESTERLY – The boards of directors of The Washington Trust Co. and the bank’s wholly owned subsidiary Halsey Associates Inc. approved the merger of Halsey into the bank, according to a recent securities filing.
Washington Trust Bancorp Inc., the bank’s parent company, announced in June 2015 it had signed an agreement to acquire Halsey, an investment advisory firm based in New Haven, Conn. At the time, Halsey had more than $850 million in assets under management, specializing in investment counseling for high net worth families, corporations, foundations and endowments.
As part of the deal, Washington Trust was to acquire all the outstanding shares of Halsey capital stock. Consideration for the transaction was to consist of a combination of cash and Washington Trust common stock. Halsey’s principals were to have an opportunity to receive additional cash consideration over a future “earn out” period.
Halsey has since been folded into Washington Trust’s wealth-management business, without any job losses or office closings, said Washington Trust spokeswoman Elizabeth Eckel.
The current merger is intended to streamline operations and create corporate efficiencies and is subject to regulatory approval, expected by October, the Westerly-based bank said in a May 28 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The merger will not involve any staffing or facility changes and was done largely for “corporate restructuring” reasons, Eckel said. “It’s pretty much just a legal notation,” she added. “Before, we described Halsey as a part of Washington Trust. Now it’s going to be called a division of Washington Trust.”
When the deal was first announced four years ago, Washington Trust said the combined companies’ assets under administration would increase to about $6 billion, positioning the bank as “one of the leading wealth-management firms in southern New England.”
At the time, then-Washington Trust Chairman and CEO Joseph J. MarcAurele said, “We’ve had great success to date with our mortgage-banking and commercial-lending activities in Connecticut, and a wealth-management presence in New Haven should provide additional opportunities for us.”
Today, Halsey, with eight employees, continues to operate out of New Haven, Eckel said.
Scott Blake is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Blake@PBN.com.
