As the economy rebounds opportunities for selling privately held businesses are re-emerging.

Opportunities for businesses looking to grow through strategic acquisitions or create exit strategies through selling their companies will also improve as the economic recovery continues.

Although commercial lending can be difficult to obtain, greater numbers of private and public buyers are increasingly purchasing competitors, suppliers and other related companies.

In this spirit, BizTimes Media will present its “M&A Forum: Buy? Sell? Hold?” on Wednesday, May 19, from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. at The Pfister Hotel, 424 E. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee.

The keynote speaker will be Mark Herndon, president of Dallas-based Parkwood Advisors LLC, a financial services firm specializing in mergers and acquisitions, investment banking and private equity financing. Herndon is co-author of “The Complete Guide to Mergers and Acquisitions: Process Tools to Support M&A Integration at Every Level.”

To read a recent Q&A interview with Herndon, click here.

The M&A Forum will also include experts from Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren Attorneys at Law and Northern Trust Bank, who will examine steps that business owners need to take to maximize the value their companies can attract in a sale, how they should structure potential transactions and steps they can take to prepare their estates or families for the financial windfall of a company sale.

The cost to attend the event is $75 per person and $600 for a table of eight. For information or to reserve a spot, visit www.biztimes.com/site/m-a-forum.

For more on the M&A Forum, see the video below.

The Wisconsin office of the Small Business Administration lent more than $18 million in April, 2010, a more than 30 percent increase from April of 2009 when the agency lent about $13.5 million.

Some of the largest loans made during April of 2010 included:

• $600,000 to Milwaukee Ironworks LLC of South Milwaukee
• $1.25 million to Marriott Drywall Materials of Waukesha
• About $2 million to Glorioso Real Estate LLC of Milwaukee
• $2 million to GHS LLP and Tax Airfreight of Milwaukee

Regulators demand changes at Legacy Bank

Milwaukee-based Legacy Bank and Legacy Bancorp Inc., its corporate parent, have been ordered to raise capital, strengthen board oversight of the bank’s operations, strengthen credit risk management practices and write down losses that have not been fully charged off by the Federal Reserve System and the Wisconsin Department of Financial Resources.

Legacy Bank and its holding company have agreed to submit plans to improve within the next 60 days, according to materials filed with the Federal Reserve.

The bank, which has about $236 million in assets under management, must improve its condition and control over the actions senior management - in particular its lending, credit risk management, loan review, capital, earnings and liquidity.

The bank also will need to address its risk management practices, in particular its risk tolerance guidelines, exposure limits, identification and quantification of risks within its loan portfolio and more.

Legacy Bancorp accepted about $5.5 million in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funding in early 2009.

Wisconsin dealmakers more optimistic about M&A market

After 18 months of pervasive gloom, dealmakers from Wisconsin are increasingly more positive about the mergers and acquisitions environment, according to the twice-yearly DealMakers Survey by the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) and Thomson Reuters.

While the last three surveys were consistently dreary, with more than 80 percent of dealmakers reporting a fair to poor M&A environment, the most recent survey reports that 91 percent of Wisconsin dealmakers expect an increase in M&A activity in the next six months.

“The M&A market is clearly getting stronger,” said Ronald Miller, ACG-Wisconsin president and managing director at Cleary Gull Inc. “The lending market is slowly beginning to rebound and both strategic buyers and financials buyers are actively looking for acquisitions.”

According to Thomson Reuters, the volume of all worldwide mergers and acquisitions totaled $573.3 billion during the first quarter of 2010, a 21 percent increase over the first quarter of 2009.

Eighty-eight percent of survey respondents identified the current environment as a buyer’s market, and 95 percent expect strategic investments to accelerate in 2010.

The survey polled investment bankers, private equity professionals, corporate development officers, lawyers, accountants and business consultants in March and April 2010.

Dealmakers expect the following sectors to experience the most merger activity in the second half of 2010: manufacturing and distribution (48 percent); business services (23 percent); financial services (5 percent); and health care/life sciences (5 percent).

“As the economy improves, the business services sector is expected to gear up quickly to help companies grow, while real estate, finance and manufacturing present good opportunities for distressed investing,” said Jim Beecher, publisher of Buyouts, a Thomson Reuters publication.

Wells Fargo & Company has appointed Robert Valcq to relationship manager in its commercial banking team in Milwaukee. He will focus on growing relationships with middle-market companies with $10 million to $500 million in annual revenues in the Midwest.

Valcq previously served as a vice president for Wells Fargo Business Banking and has 13 years of financial services experience.

Prime Financial regains independent operations from state officials

Cudahy-based Prime Financial Credit Union regained independent operations last week, with a new board of directors, more stable market position and plans to build additional strength in the future.

State regulators seized control of the credit union in March and dismissed its previous board. Richard Koenig, Prime Financial’s former president, was dismissed in December, 2009. Christine Dawe, who was appointed by the state as interim chief executive officer of Prime Financial last year, will continue to lead the credit union as it returns to normal operations.

“We have worked hard - in partnership with the National Credit Union Administration, the state, our employees and our members - to strengthen Prime Financial’s overall position and performance. Resuming independent operations with a new member board is a significant milestone,” Dawe said. “We are confident that Prime Financial can build on this success and the foundation we’ve laid over the past 14 months as we move forward.”

The new board members include: Harry Staffileno, chairman; Christine Timm, vice chairman; Eric Moore, secretary; Ralph DeVito, treasurer; and Steven Bejma.

Fiserv to launch mobile banking app

Brookfield-based Fiserv Inc. has unveiled ZashPay, a new person-to-person (P2P) payments service that will allow consumers to tap into a community where they can quickly send or receive money using their existing online banking accounts.

With ZashPay, consumers will be able to send money to anyone they know using only an e-mail address or mobile phone number. The payment will be deducted directly from the sender's banking account and deposited directly into the recipient's account in as little as one business day, utilizing the same secure processes as a typical online banking transaction.

Users of ZashPay will be able to send money to anyone, regardless of the recipient's financial institution relationship. Payments will be deposited directly into the recipient's account, if they have an account at a participating financial institution. If their institution is not part of the network they will be able to claim their money at ZashPay.com.

Payments made using ZashPay will be delivered in as little as one business day and confirmation of payment will be sent to the recipient's e-mail address or mobile number. Because consumers will be able to use ZashPay through their financial institution, it will eliminate the need to fund a separate account or share account information with a third party, resulting in both improved security and greater convenience.

ZashPay will be available to a network of more than 3,100 financial institutions and 16 million consumers that already use the CheckFree RXP online bill payment service from Fiserv. ZashPay will be integrated into the online banking sites of financial institutions that choose to offer the service.

"Consumers are looking for faster and easier ways to send and receive money among their friends, family, neighbors and colleagues, yet current electronic payment options are often a hassle and too slow," said Erich Litch, senior vice president and general manager of consumer services for Fiserv. "ZashPay will be accessible through the online banking sites of participating banks and credit unions and will use consumers' existing financial accounts rather than require them to sign up for and fund a third party account. Consumers have told us that they would prefer to send and receive money directly through their existing online accounts, and ZashPay makes that possible."

The service will be available through participating financial institutions and at ZashPay.com early in the summer of 2010.

Consumers can visit www.ZashPay.com for a preview, to sign up for e-mail updates and to request that their financial institution offer the service.

Douglas Dynamics Inc.’s stock makes debut

Milwaukee-based Douglas Dynamics Inc. announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 10 million shares of its common stock at $11.25 per share.

The offering will consist of 6.5 million shares of common stock offered by Douglas Dynamics and 3.5 million shares sold by certain Douglas stockholders.

The company's common stock will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "PLOW."

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering.

Douglas Dynamics designs, manufactures and sells snow and ice control equipment for light trucks, which is comprised of snowplows and sand and salt spreaders, and related parts and accessories.

Universal Mortgage to close Mequon office

Universal Mortgage Corp. of Mequon plans to close its headquarters in Mequon at 12080 N. Corporate Parkway, resulting in 100 employees losing their jobs.

In its layoff notice filed with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, Universal Mortgage said it was unable to secure funding or find a buyer to keep the business open.

Universal Mortgage said it will begin closing the facility on May 15, and some employees will receive less than the 60 days notice of their layoffs.

The DWD and its regional partner, the Waukesha-Ozaukee-Washington Workforce Development Board, are providing rapid response services for the displaced employees.

Johnson Insurance Services named MetLife Agency of the Year

Racine-based Johnson Insurance Services, an independent insurance agency and part of the Johnson Financial Group, has been named the Agency of the Year by MetLife Auto & Home.

Johnson Insurance Services has offices in Appleton, Green Bay, Kenosha, Racine, Milwaukee, Brookfield, Franklin Waukesha, Janesville, Madison, Lake Geneva, Eau Claire, Ripon, Rice Lake and Hayward, Wisconsin, and also in the greater Phoenix area in Arizona.

“Being named Agency of the Year is one of the highest honors that MetLife Auto & Home can bestow upon an agency,” said Paul Gavin, vice president of MetLife Auto & Home’s agency distribution. “MetLife Auto & Home is proud to have Johnson Insurance Services as a member of our sales force, because the agency is clearly providing outstanding service to its clients.”

SBA’s Milwaukee office to hold “Turbo Chat” event

The Milwaukee office of the Small Business Administration will hold a “Turbo Chat” forum on June 4 from 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon at the Italian Community Center, 631 E. Chicago St., Milwaukee.

The event will allow small business owners and entrepreneurs to meet one-on-one with four different lenders from regional banks. Business owners will be asked to give a five to seven minute elevator pitch on their company’s financial needs, and will receive immediate feedback from lenders.

“We recognize that small business is critical to our economic recovery and strength and the

‘Turbo Chat’ forum is an additional way we can assist Wisconsin’s small business communities in growing stronger,” said Eric Ness, Wisconsin’s district director with the SBA.

Interested companies are asked to register for the event by May 21 at www.sba.gov/wi.

The Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Conference will be held June 8-9 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Milwaukee Airport, 6401 S. 13th St., Milwaukee. This year’s conference will include presentations from Dave Berkus, past chairman of Tech Coast Angels, the nation’s largest angel network, and twice an Inc. 500 CEO; Sue Marks, founder and CEO of Pinstripe Inc., a national leader in recruitment process outsourcing; Robert Okabe, managing director of RPX Group and a pioneer in Chicago angel network; and Eric Apfelbach, CEO of ZBB Energy, and a serial entrepreneur who has raised more than $100 million for his companies.
For more information and to register, visit http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Summary.aspx?e=f5740449-fe87-4de2-bdf5-ef734186359c.

Banking

• Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions 
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
• Wisconsin Bankers Association 
• Community Bankers of Wisconsin
• Wisconsin Mortgage Bankers Association
• American Bankers Association
• Bankers Association for Finance and Trade
• Commercial Finance Association 
• Risk Management Association

Mergers & Acquisitions

• Association for Corporate Growth 
• International Business Brokers Association 
• Mergers.com

Wealth Management/Financial/Retirement Planning

• Financial Planning Association
• Financial Planning Association of Southern Wisconsin
• Investment Management Consultants Association
• National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA)

Other 

• Society of Financial Service Providers
• Small Business Administration
• State public awareness campaign
• Wisconsin Credit Union League
• CFA Institute
• CFA Society of Milwaukee
• Wisconsin Angel Network