Following approval
from the Farm Credit Administration, 1st Farm Credit Services, AgStar Financial
Services and Badgerland Financial are moving forward with their planned merger
and expect to conduct stockholder votes in April.
All three
organizations are member-owned cooperatives, so the merger proposal must be
approved by each company’s stockholders. With the Farm Credit preliminary
approval, which like all Farm Credit merger requests is conditional, the
organizations can progress to those votes.
Each cooperative is
sending out disclosure packets to their stockholders and all three plan to hold
informational meetings for their stockholders this month. A release from 1st
Farm Credit Services expressed the commitment of all three organizations to
ensuring clear communications on the merger and its process in the run up to
the votes.
If the merger is
approved, the cooperative’s plan for it to be effective as of July 1. The
merged organization would bear a decentralized structure, and no local offices would
close. It would be based in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and lead by AgStar
Financial Service President and CEO Rob Hebrink. The merged organization’s
board of directors would comprise three outside appointed directors and 14
directors from the member cooperatives, organized in proportion to the number
of stakeholders from each.
