Civista Bancshares acquires Vision Financial Group

Sandusky, Ohio-based Civista Bancshares Inc. acquired Pittsburgh-based Vision Financial Group Inc. (VFG), a privately held, independent, full-service general equipment leasing and financing company.

Founded in 1991 by Fred Summers, VFG provides lending solutions to both small- and medium-sized businesses and large corporate customers across the U.S. Based on financial data as of June 30, VFG had total loan and lease assets of about $89 million and is expected to generate loan and lease originations exceeding $120 million during 2022.

VFG becomes a subsidiary of Civista Bank, with current VFG leadership – led by CEO Bill Summers – and all employees continuing in their positions. VFG will continue to operate under the Vision Financial Group name.

Summers says Civista has a similar corporate culture to what VFG has built since its founding, making the partnership a strong fit for the future.

“Our team believes that we can achieve significant growth and profitability as part of Civista Bank,” Summers says. “With the additional resources and lower incremental funding costs provided by the bank, we will be poised to increase our activity with existing customers and build relationships with new customers, including some of the existing customers of Civista. Our team is very excited to build an even better Vision Financial Group as part of Civista Bank going forward.”

Civista says the partnership will allow it to expand its product offerings and provide complementary services to its existing commercial lending customers.

“VFG’s very strong market position in the equipment finance industry, built upon their deep knowledge of specific strategically targeted industry sectors, will provide Civista with many additional opportunities for growth,” says Dennis G. Shaffer, CEO and president of Civista. “We look forward to collaborating with VFG’s leadership team to enhance their lending platform and accelerate each other’s growth.”

Civista agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of VFG in exchange for consideration in the form of cash and shares of Civista common stock. An additional amount will be paid in shares of Civista common stock subject to certain “earn-out” payments annually for two years following the Oct. 3 closing.

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