State OKs Academy Bank’s acquisition of Mountain View Bank of Commerce

DENVER — The acquisition of Westminster-based Mountain View Bank of Commerce was approved Thursday by the Colorado State Banking Board, a division of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Affairs.

Academy Bank N.A. and parent company Dickinson Financial Corp. entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Mountain View, which has a main office at 12001 N. Pecos St. in Westminster and a loan-production office at 3100 Arapahoe Ave., Suite 403, in Boulder.

The banking board held two unanimous votes, one to approve the sale of assets and the other for the conversion of Mountain View’s facilities to Academy Bank.

Originally located at 12365 Huron St., Mountain View opened in February 2008.

“We are excited to bring MVBC into the Academy Bank team,” Paul Holewinski, CEO of Academy Bank, said in a prepared statement. “This acquisition strengthens our commercial and business banking capabilities and bolsters our presence in North Denver and Boulder, as we continue to build out our footprint in key Colorado markets.”

After closing of the acquisition, Academy Bank will have 28 branches and more than $725 million in deposits throughout Colorado. Most of those branches are located inside Walmart stores. Thursday’s action marks its first acquisition in Colorado, however. Academy began establishing branches in Colorado in 2001.

According to market share reports from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Mountain View Bank of Commerce as of July 2023 commanded not quite 1% of the Colorado market and 2.13% of the Adams County market.

Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, Academy Bank serves clients online and at 72 locations across Colorado, Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri and boasts more than $2.7 billion in assets.

“We are excited about the innovative technology, branch network, and product set that combining with Academy Bank will bring to our clients,” Andy Ellison, president and CEO of Mountain View Bank of Commerce, said in a news release. Mountain View will be rebranded as Academy Bank.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year. Olsen Palmer LLC acted as financial advisor to Mountain View, and Stinson LLP served as its legal advisor in the transaction. Fenimore Kay Harrison LLP acted as legal advisor to Academy Bank.

Dickinson Financial Corp., a bank holding company with more than $4 billion in assets, has two separately chartered banks, Academy Bank and Armed Forces Bank.