Dive Brief:
- Metairie, Louisiana-based OnPath Credit Union has agreed to buy Covington-based Heritage Nola Bancorp and its subsidiary Heritage Bank of St. Tammany in an all-cash transaction valued at $26 million, the companies announced Thursday.
- Under the terms of the deal, OnPath will additionally reimburse Heritage Bank up to $2 million for the payout of its liquidation account and up to $1 million for Heritage Nola Bancorp’s tax liabilities from the purchase and assumption transaction, according to the press release.
- The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, the institutions said.
Dive Insight:
The latest proposal for Heritage Nola comes more than a year after a proposed merger with Morgan City-based MC Bancshares fell through amid “uncertainties in the regulatory environment and merger approval process,” the institutions said in June 2024. The lenders mutually agreed to terminate the deal and bear their own related costs and expenses without incurring penalties or liabilities.
That all-cash merger, valued at $6.5 million, was announced in July 2023 and was expected to close in the fourth quarter of that year, but was subsequently pushed to 2024.
“For our first ninety-three years, Heritage Bank was mutually owned by our depositors, and we believe that this partnership is a return to our roots,” David Crumhorn, Heritage NOLA Bancorp and Heritage Bank’s CEO, said in a statement Thursday. “Like Heritage Bank, OnPath Credit Union is a community-focused institution, and the combined resources of the combined institution will ensure that our customers, our employees and our communities have expanded financial services and membership benefits going forward.”
OnPath’s latest acquisition follows a previous merger announcement with Louisiana Federal Credit Union in 2024, which closed in June, according to the credit union’s website.
After the completion of the deal, Heritage Bank will liquidate and distribute its remaining assets to Heritage Nola Bancorp. Following the liquidation, Heritage Nola Bancorp will dissolve and distribute its remaining assets to its shareholders.
Heritage Nola’s shareholders are expected to receive between $20.00 and $20.75 per share of common stock. Heritage Nola has 1,239,680 outstanding shares.
The final per-share amount is subject to variation based on factors including corporate taxation costs, liquidation account payout expenses, costs of liquidating and distributing Heritage Bank's remaining assets and expenses for dissolving Heritage Nola Bancorp and distributing remaining assets.
OnPath, meanwhile, counts more than $1.1 billion in assets, $870 million in loans and $846 million in member shares and deposits.
“Welcoming them into the OnPath Credit Union family marks a meaningful step in our continued growth and expansion across Southeast Louisiana,” OnPath CEO Jared Freeman said in a statement Thursday, adding that the deal strengthens the financial institution’s footprint. “We are proud to extend the unique benefits of membership to Heritage Bank's clients and look forward to building lasting financial relationships with them.”
This is the ninth whole-bank credit union deal announced this year, and the second announced this week. The two latest deals involve credit unions with more than $1 billion in assets, which have raised concerns about the tax-exempt nature of credit unions and the potential effect that can have on bidding price.
“When taxpaying community banks are acquired by billion-dollar, tax-exempt credit unions, further consolidating the financial services industry, consumers and small business owners lose,” Independent Community Bankers of America CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said in a statement Thursday.
