North Carolina bank
BB&T Corp. has been very active on the deals front in the past year, acquiring a number of smaller banks, insurance-finance providers, insurance brokers and insurance agencies. For two of these recent deals, BB&T retained attorneys from Troutman Sanders to provide advice on various legal matters.
In a deal that closed in December, BB&T acquired Burlington, N.C. agency TAPCO Underwriters Inc. The acquisition was made by BB&T’s wholesale insurance subsidiary, CRC Insurance Services Inc. BB&T described CRC Insurance as the largest wholesale property and casualty insurance broker in the nation.
Troutman partner Andrea Farley handled mergers and acquisitions issues for BB&T on the TAPCO acquisition. Partner Marty Wilson and associate William Still advised on insurance regulatory matters. Partner Mitch Portnoy and associate Lori Jones reviewed antitrust law. They worked with BB&T Insurance Services general counsel Tammy Stringer in Charlotte, N.C. All Troutman attorneys are in Atlanta except Portnoy, who is based in New York.
The second deal, which closed Monday, concerned BB&T subsidiary AFCO Credit Corp. AFCO Credit acquired Cananwill Premium Funding Inc. of Glenview, Ill., from insurance brokerage Aon Corp. Both AFCO Credit and Cananwill provide insurance premium financing for the commercial property and casualty insurance industry.
Joining Farley on M&A issues for the Cananwill deal were associates Nick Farrell and Juliet Sy. Portnoy and Jones again advised on antitrust matters.
Troutman has performed work for BB&T in the past and did not respond to a request-for-proposals to obtain these two assignments, according to Farley [photo, below].
Troutman was not BB&T’s legal counsel on two other recent acquisitions – the purchase of the deposits of Haven Trust Bank of Duluth, Ga., and of J. Rolfe Davis Insurance Agency Inc. of Maitland, Fla. Haven Trust was closed by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance in December, and placed into receivership with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Troutman did advise BB&T on its purchase last year of UnionBanc Insurance Services from UnionBanCal Corp.
BB&T, Winston-Salem, N.C., was one of the first banks to participate in the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) program, obtaining $3.13 billion in November. BB&T did not disclose terms for either the TAPCO or the Cananwill deals. It’s not known whether BB&T used TARP funds to make the acquisitions, Farley said.