Advice Achievers

It's not often Dennis Holthaus, even after 45 years in financial services, is interviewed by reporters from the New York Times and American Banker in the same week, much less at all.

But Holthaus has a fish-out-of-water story that attracts reporters: He heads up a new consulting group at Dunedin-based Achieva Credit Union to help credit unions buy community banks — just like Achieva did in 2015, when it acquired Punta Gorda-based Calusa Bank. Achieva paid $23.2 million for Calusa, or 1.36 price-to-book value, in a deal considered the first whole-bank acquisition of a bank by a credit union nationwide.

“It's kind of interesting that it's getting so much attention,” says Holthaus, executive vice president at Achieva. “It's the novelty of it. Who would have ever thought a credit union would buy a bank? No one.”