SAN FRANCISCO -- Credit union interest in purchasing the assets of the conserved $339 million Cal State 9 CU of Concord took some new turns last week with Citizens Equity First of Peoria, Ill., now in the fray and two California CUs dropped out of the bidding.
The NCUA has been running the CU since last November after it ran up large real estate loan losses and has remained mum on potential bidders. However, individual CUs in California, along with the $3.6 billion CEFCU, have confirmed their desire to submit offers for the good assets.
Declining comment on the bidding process, Mark Spenny, the president/CEO of CEFCU, maintained that the Illinois CU has long had West Coast members "some of whom are Caterpillar dealers or employees."
Moreover, CEFCU, said Spenny, was invited by the NCUA to submit a bid apparently "because they understood us to be financially sound and operationally strong." But he added that he was uncertain certain how the Peoria CU was selected to make an offer.
Meanwhile, both the $1.7 billion Travis CU of Vacaville and the $1.5 billion Provident CU of Redwood City, halted consideration based on internal factors as well as what they said they perceive as downside risks in resurrecting the Concord operation.
But two other California CUs, $6.7 billion The Golden 1 CU of Sacramento and the $4.1 billion Patelco CU of San Francisco confirmed their submission of bids to NCUA two weeks ago.
Top executives from those two CUs along with staffers from Provident and reportedly the $2.6 billion Addison Avenue CU of Palo Alto had attended an NCUA-sponsored bidders' conference in March at NCUA's Region V Tempe, Ariz., office.
--jrubenscut@aol.com
