Home BancShares Inc. is still interested in bidding on parts of the failed Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank after it was unsuccessful in previous bids.
On the company's first-quarter earnings call, co-founder, President and CEO Johnny Allison disclosed that Home BancShares bid on "both Signature and pieces of Signature as well as pieces of [Silicon Valley Bank]." The bids did not come to fruition, as New York Community Bancorp Inc. subsidiary Flagstar Bank NA acquired substantially all the deposits and certain loans from Signature Bridge Bank NA and First Citizens BancShares Inc.'s banking subsidiary acquired all the deposits and substantially all the loans of Silicon Valley Bridge Bank NA.
But Home BancShares is still interested in what is left of the bridge banks, Allison said on the call.
"We were not successful, but there's still some stuff left, so we'll see about that — see if there's something there that makes sense for us," the CEO said. Allison declined to provide specific details on what assets Home BancShares was interested in.
While Home Bancshares lost out on those bids, it sees more M&A opportunities arising in the future.
"Based on what we saw, what happened in the marketplace, I also think there might be some opportunities on the buy side maybe to pick up some assets over a period of time," Allison said.
However, now is not a good time for M&A, partly because of banks' high loan-to-deposit ratios and lower capital ratios and the impact of accumulated other comprehensive income on merger math, Allison said.
"I'm struggling [with] why I'd want to do that and why I'd want to take your mess that you've created and put on my balance sheet and put my balance sheet that is not stressed under any conditions," Allison said.