M&F Bancorp Inc. (MFBP)

[56Chevy]

I have no idea what regulatory limitations, if any, banks classified as CDFI's would encounter in M & A type situations.

Common sense tells me there would be significant regulation hurdles to consider before Bank A could acquire non-cdfi Bank B and still maintain their own CDFI status. Perhaps its no hurdle at all and the standard reg rules for M & A apply. But something tells me its not all that simple ...and its a fair statement to say the simplest thing to do would be for a CDFI bank to look for another CDFI bank when they've got M & A on their minds.

MFBP is a North Carolina chartered bank with $301MM in assets ...and CZBS is a Georgia chartered bank with $387MM in assets. Although these banks aren't neighbors they are both in the southern region of the country and together they would be in the neighborhood of a $688MM dollar bank... which is still small by many standards but large enough they would help each other out significantly. Ideally banks need to be at least $1 Billion in assets to withstand the newest round of compliance costs.

It does no good to guess 'who' might acquire 'who' when it comes to banks...these things rarely ever work out the way you think they might... but its still fun to play matchmaker while we wait.

Both of these banks are selling at a steep discount to book value.