Insurance broker First Agency Inc. has sold to Rolling Meadows, Ill.-based Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

The $8 million in capital West Michigan Community Bank just raised will go to support further growth and perhaps develop another branch location in the Grand Rapids area.

A small private equity firm started in Southern Michigan plans to invest in a niche area most investors ignore. In targeting small manufacturers in small towns and other rural markets across the state, Parma-based Fresh Water Ventures Fund LP seeks to acquire small businesses and maintain operations in their hometowns.

M&A professionals expect the dealmaking market to remain healthy in 2019. That’s one of the conclusions from a panel of executives MiBiz assembled to talk about West Michigan’s mergers and acquisitions sector.

Interest rates likely will rise again in 2019. How much and how often remains the question following the latest quarter-point increase in the federal funds rate last week by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which for two years has been raising interest rates from historic lows reached a decade ago during the Great Recession.

Volatility came back to the stock market in 2018 and Todd Harvey doesn’t see it going away in 2019. The director of Fifth Third Private Bank since 2012 and a wealth management professional for 16 years, Harvey believes the market next year will have to cope with rising interest rates amid a U.S. economy that will continue growing, although at a slower rate.

Krista Flynn joined Chemical Bank in July as regional president for West Michigan, leading a market that includes Grand Rapids and Holland. She previously spent seven years in corporate banking at PNC Bank and 15 years at JPMorgan before going to work at Chemical, the largest bank based in Michigan. Chemical Bank, with more than $20.9 billion in total assets, has been building its commercial banking and wealth management staff, and is presently building out a new regional headquarters in downtown Grand Rapids. Parent company Chemical Financial Corp. also plans to develop a new corporate headquarters in downtown Detroit.

Kalamazoo-based Consumers Credit Union surpassed a key milestone when it hit $1 billion in assets back in May 2018. By the end of the third quarter, the 92,000-member credit union had grown assets further to $1.07 billion, and President and CEO Kit Snyder expects assets to close the year at $1.1 billion. The growth during 2018 came as Consumers Credit Union settled into a new headquarters in The Groves Engineering Business Technology Park in Kalamazoo.

PARCHMENT — Advia Credit Union would gain a larger market presence in northern Illinois with the proposed acquisition of Golden Eagle Community Bank.

Michigan will maintain job growth through 2019, although at a slower rate than the past several years as employers have fewer people to hire.

GRAND RAPIDS — A lukewarm initial public stock offering by drinkware and cooler-maker Yeti Holdings Inc. spelled a smaller-than-expected payout for a prominent West Michigan family office. 

GRAND RAPIDS — Even when it first acquired Dickinson Press LLC more than three years ago, Blackford Capital saw Brainerd, Minn.-based CJK Group Inc. as a potential buyer.

MiBiz, in conjunction with the Association for Corporate Growth of Western Michigan, highlighted the winners and finalists of the 2018 M&A Deals and Dealmakers of the Year Awards on Oct. 28 at the Gerald  R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids. 

Here is the MiBiz Growth Report for Oct. 29, 2018.

The spring acquisition of TCSB Bancorp Inc. in Traverse City, combined with strong loan growth, drove earnings higher for Independent Bank Corp. in the third quarter.

Macatawa Bank Corp. grew earnings more than 40 percent in the third quarter.

Marijuana for recreational use by adults could become a $1.4 billion industry in Michigan in the years ahead.

A tribal-owned architecture and engineering firm in Southwest Michigan plans to relocate its headquarters to a new Kalamazoo commercial development.

A West Michigan manufacturer of wood-based products has acquired Pak-Rite Ltd., a Milwaukee,Wis.-based packaging design and manufacturing firm.

Shoulder Innovations Inc. closed on $2.5 million raised in a Series A equity funding round led by the Michigan Angel Fund of Ann Arbor.

MiBiz, in conjunction with the Association for Corporate Growth Western Michigan, is pleased to present the sixth-annual M&A Deals and Dealmakers of the Year Awards.

Friends and family saw Stephen Waterbury heading toward a career in law before he ever did.

Acquiring Sparta-based Old Orchard Brands LLC in April allowed a Canadian beverage company to add a modern plant in Michigan to better access the Midwestern market.

Faced with an industry sea change and the loss of a major customer, Benton Harbor-based Midwest Timer Services Inc. needed to take action to remain a growing business.

The recent scale and scope of M&A activity around the region has made for a “pretty cool year” for deal advisers like Rajesh Kothari. 

By focusing on the smaller end of the M&A market, Max Friar has sought to expand the deal flow for his Grand Rapids-based advisory firm.