Sandusky, OH Civista Bancshares, Inc. announced the signing of a definitive stock purchase agreement pursuant to which Civista will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Pittsburgh-based Vision Financial Group, Inc., a leading privately held, independent, full-service general equipment leasing & 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 United States. VFG plays a meaningfulrole in the success and growth of its customers’ businesses by serving as a knowledgeable andreliable financing source for revenue-producing equipment. Based on financial data as of June30, 2022, VFG had total loan and lease assets of approximately $89 million, and is expected togenerate loan and lease originations exceeding $120 million during 2022.
Upon completion of the transaction, VFG will become a subsidiary of Civista Bank, with currentVFG leadership and all employees continuing in their positions, led by CEO Bill Summers. As asubsidiary of Civista Bank, VFG will continue to operate under the Vision Financial Group, Inc.name taking advantage of the company’s existing brand awareness within the equipmentfinance industry. This acquisition builds on Civista’s proven track record of partnering and acquiring like-minded businesses and financial institutions in order to leverage excess capital and deliver strong financial results to its shareholders. This partnership will also allow Civista toexpand its product offerings and provide complementary services to its existing commerciallending customers.
“We are very excited to welcome VFG’s customers, employees, and business partners to theCivista family,” said Dennis G. Shaffer, CEO and President of Civista. “We have gotten to knowthe VFG team very well and admire the unique business that they have built over the past 30+years. VFG’s very strong market position in the equipment finance industry built upon theirdeep knowledge of specific strategically targeted industry sectors will provide Civista withmany additional opportunities for growth. We look forward to collaborating with VFG’sleadership team to enhance their lending platform and accelerate each other’s growth.”
“We are really excited to be joining with Civista, which has a terrific track record and a similarcorporate culture to what we have built,” stated Bill Summers, CEO of VFG. “Vision FinancialGroup has been helping customers since our founding in 1991 through various interest rate andeconomic cycles. Our dedicated team believes that we can achieve significant growth andprofitability as part of Civista Bank. With the additional resources and lower incrementalfunding costs provided by the bank, we will be poised to increase our activity with existingcustomers and build relationships with new customers, including some of the existingcustomers of Civista. Our team is very excited to build an even better Vision Financial Group aspart of Civista Bank going forward.”