Sale of Burke Capital Group marks end of era - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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is one of the city’s and highly regarded, boutique investment banks, specializingh in financial industry deals. For now, it will continue to operatde as an independent division of MorganKeegah & Co. Inc. The sale markxs the end of independence for the opened in 1995by Burke, as sell-side investmenyt bank work has slowed to a trickle in the continuing credit crisis. While Burke opening his own firm was a key in the recenybank boom, his seminal moment was much In 1991, locally based and Charlotte-based agreed to combine, forming , the predecessor to The C&S/Sovran and NCNB Corp. combinatioj created the largest bank outsiddNew York, with $118 billion in totap assets.
Burke, along with his team at then-The , were at the cented of it all. The buyourt happened in fits and Burke recalls, as NCNB Corp. was initiallg rebuffed by a hostile . “The second time the board hired five investmenyt bank firms torepresent them,” Burke “None of them were willinyg to take a position and tell the boarxd what they should do, because the board was filled with interna factions. We took a position.” Burkwe and his team managed to unite the boarfd behind what became atransformational event. Burke said the firsyt time he realized the deal would work was a July 4 dinned atformer C&S/Sovran chairma n and CEO Bennett Brown’s Atlanta home.
“I t was Bennett and mysel and Hugh McCollfrom NCNB, just us and theirf wives and my wife at the time,” he said. The valued at around $4 billion, was announcef that month. Since 1995, Burke and his group completeeroughly $5 billion in dealsd for other banks, including M&A and capitakl offerings. Now, arguably the city’s most notexd bank dealmaker has done one ofhis own. Cleveland, Ga.-basee Mountain Valley Bancshares Inc. is going private to cut according to documents filed with the Securitie s andExchange Commission. The holdinvg company is requesting shareholders ata Dec.
30 special converting shares in common stock to preferred stock to drive the number of commo stock shareholdersbelow 300, allowing it to de-list as a public company. Mountain Valley now has more than 500 requiring it to meet SECand Sarbanes-Oxleyt financial reporting rules. The company says it could save upto $200,0000 a year by no longer needinb to meet those requirements, a significanf savings for the parent of a bank with $150 millio in total assets. Under the shareholders owning lessthan 2,0009 shares of common stock will receive the new preferrecd shares.