“Like many business men of genius, Don Corleone learned that free competition was wasteful, monopoly efficient.”
In case you came in late, the Godfather series has looked at the issue of mergers among credit unions. BECU/SAFE are featured; but are by no means the exception, nor meant to be singled out.
In this merger, the SAFE Board of Directors is giving away the credit union and $400 million in cash to BECU. Several better "deals" have been suggested [link]; it is hard to imagine "a deal" which is worse.
If the SAFE Board of Directors reconsidered "the deal", paid out the $400 million to SAFE members, and avoided the potential class action lawsuit; would BECU still take the merger? Guess we should ask Jefferies, LLC [link] - BECU's merger advisor. But, even after rightfully returning the $400 million in cash to SAFE shareholders...
✅ We can state without argument that BECU would still receive a thriving $4 billion asset business, 244,000 additional members, 21 branches in 13 cities, a knowledgeable, experienced, local staff, with a strong reputation for service. Not to mention all those highly-heated vapors promised in the press release [link]!
✔ If you wanted "to create" a similar $4 billion credit union in California: 1) What would it cost you? and 2) How long would it take?
😎 Where could you go "to acquire" such a powerful business entity for free?
