Displaying items tagged: finance

SPARTA — The planned $21.9 million merger of Community Shores Bank Corp. into ChoiceOne Financial Services Inc. heads to a close after earning shareholder approval.

Changes by the Federal Reserve Board should draw greater interest to the new $600 billion Main Street Lending Program for small and mid-sized businesses hurt financially by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Federal Reserve Bank’s $600 billion Main Street Lending Program promises to offer small and mid-sized businesses hurt financially by the COVID-19 pandemic with another option to access credit and operating capital. 

Bankers across the region have been focused on working with small business clients to secure loans from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, as well providing payment deferrals and adjusting loans for business borrowers hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

GRAND RAPIDS — Tetra Therapeutics Inc.’s sale to a Japanese pharmaceutical company provides a final pathway toward bringing to market potential new drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease and a form of autism, as well as generates a handsome return for financial backers.

The FDIC intends to keep providing regulatory flexibility to banks as they navigate the economic recession brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal regulatory agency wants banks to remain agile and do what they can to support consumers and small business owners during the crisis, according to FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams. McWilliams, who began a six-year term on the FDIC Board of Directors in June 2018, previously served as executive vice president, chief legal officer, and corporate secretary for Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati, Ohio.

GRAND RAPIDS — Independent Bank Corp. raised $40 million in a debt offering that comes amid the economic downturn and uncertainty from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a recent conference call, the president and CEO of Detroit-based TCF Financial Corp. — the parent company of what remains known in Michigan as Chemical Bank — voiced a simple ethic that all businesses, no matter their industry or their size, must keep in mind in the COVID-19 pandemic.

GRANDVILLE — The parent company for Grand River Bank wants to raise $7.5 million to provide a cushion for the economic downturn brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

TCF Financial Corp. approved more than 16,000 U.S. Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program loans for $2 billion, all while adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic as most non-branch employees transitioned to working from home. 

Michigan’s hard-hit economy will record a major dive for the second quarter from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, losing nearly one-third of its output, before partially recovering in the third quarter. 

Michigan is facing a more than $3 billion shortfall for the state’s general fund and school aid budget in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, according to analyses by state fiscal agencies.

Comerica Inc. now projects a “W-shaped pattern” for U.S. economic performance with a steep decline in Real GDP for the second quarter, a partial rebound in the third and a small decline to end the year.

In mid-2018, executives and directors at Community Shores Bank Corp. began to study “strategic alternatives” to grow the bank.

TRAVERSE CITY — High Street Insurance Partners, a private equity-backed agency platform, recently completed three acquisitions, including two deals in West Michigan.

GRAND RAPIDS — Independent Bank Corp. plans to close eight branch offices later this year as consumers increasingly use online and mobile banking, but could open new locations elsewhere in the state.

Michigan has gradually grown more reliant on federal funding to support state operations, creating “limited discretion over budgetary choices” as it’s forced to make cuts during the coronavirus pandemic, according to analysts.

The Michigan Economic Development Corp. plans to put $3 million into a capital fund that will invest in early-stage technology companies.

The number of angel investors expanded again, the average size of Michigan-based venture capital funds increased, and even if you exclude major deals as one-time outliers, the amount invested last year still grew.

HOLLAND — Earnings at Macatawa Bank Corp. declined for the first quarter, largely from higher a loan-loss provision because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

GRAND RAPIDS — Mercantile Bank Corp. reported lower earnings to start 2020 and sits in an “extremely solid” condition for the economic downturn brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state plans to provide up to $2 million to a Marquette-based small business lender to increase activity across the state.

Venture capital firms invested a record amount into Michigan-based companies in 2019, led by a Plymouth-based automotive technology company that accounted for three-quarters of the total.

The COVID-19 pandemic that dismantled daily routines and hammered the economy has forced investors to pivot along with the companies they back financially.

Jason Mejeur sees his business as one of the outliers right now in the economic carnage from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Huntington Bank has temporarily stopped taking application from companies seeking a U.S. Small Business Administration loan to get them through the economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

GRAND HAVEN — A new investment from private equity owner Blackford Capital gives Grand Haven-based portfolio company Grand Power Systems Inc. capital needed to support growth.

The COVID-19 pandemic will take a fast bite of more than $3 billion out of West Michigan’s economic output, driving the region into recession along with the rest of the country.

Small businesses that have been slammed by the coronavirus pandemic and expect to have difficulty making commercial loan payments should call their bankers now to work out possible adjustments.

The COVID-19 pandemic that’s swept the nation adds a new issue for business succession and transition planning.