ROCKLAND, Mass. – Rockland Trust Co., the wholly-owned bank subsidiary of Independent Bank Corp. said it has completed its acquisition of the name and other assets of Compass Exchange Advisors LLC. Financial terms were not disclosed.
As of Jan. 1, the day of the closing, the bank established a wholly-owned subsidiary named Compass Exchange Advisors LLC, to offer qualified intermediary, like-kind exchange services to corporate, institutional and individual property owners under section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code. (Section 1031, first enacted in 1954, enables taxpayers to defer the gain on the sale of real estate, a business, or other investment property through the use of qualified intermediary services.)
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
Rockland Trust said it anticipates that the transaction will improve its deposit-generating capability and increase fee revenue, giving an immediate boost to 2007 earnings.
The bank said it has hired Thomas E. St. Jean and Andrew F. Gelson, the owners of the seller, to serve as the managing directors of its new Compass Exchange subsidiary.
“We are delighted that Tom St. Jean and Andy Gelson have joined the Rockland Trust team,” said Christopher Oddleifson, the president and CEO of Rockland Trust. “They are seasoned professionals, with a wealth of experience, who immediately expand the scope of services Rockland Trust Co. has to offer.”
The bank said its Compass Exchange subsidiary will continue to operate from its current Plymouth County location at 50 Resnik Road. St. Jean will be primarily responsible for business development, and Gelson primarily responsible for legal delivery and product development. They may both be reached at (508) 830-1188.
Before the pair founded Compass Exchange, St. Jean was a senior vice president of J.P. Morgan Property Exchange Inc., where he was involved in exchanges totaling more than $10 billion, and Gelson was a senior vice president and general tax counsel at J.P. Morgan Property Exchange Inc., where he had primary responsibility for executing more than $15 billion of exchange transactions.
St. Jean, 38, is a graduate of Providence College. He lives with his family in Kingston, Mass.
Gelson, 48, has 21 years of experience in real estate and tax law; he specializes in section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code. He holds a B.S. from Boston College, a J.D. from Southwestern University, and an LLM in Taxation from New York University. He lives on Cape Cod, with his family, in Forestdale, Mass.
Rockland Trust’s Oddleifson and Denis K. Sheahan, chief financial officer of both Independent Bank Corp. and Rockland Trust Co., will discuss the Compass Exchange transaction during the fourth-quarter conference call on Friday, Jan. 19, 2007, at 10 a.m.
The conference call can be heard live by telephone, at (877) 407-8031, or by Internet, at www.RocklandTrust.com, by choosing the Investor Relations tab, then 4th Quarter Earnings Conference Call. It will be available for replay by telephone, at (877) 660-6853, Account Number 286, Conference ID 225254, through Jan. 24, and via Internet through April 19.
Independent Bank Corp.’s sole bank subsidiary, Rockland Trust Co., has $2.9 billion in assets and is a full-service community bank serving southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod. For further information, visit www.RocklandTrust.com.
