Huntington to Buy Middle-Market Advisory Firm Capstone Partners

(Bloomberg) -- Huntington Bancshares Inc. agreed to acquire Capstone Partners, an advisory firm serving middle-market companies, as banks continue to announce deals despite increasing regulatory scrutiny.

Capstone focuses on mergers and acquisitions, capital advisory, financial advisory and restructuring, according to the statement. Its primary offices are in Boston and Denver, and it has a presence in 12 other cities. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

“The addition of investment-banking and financial-advisory services aligns with our capital markets strategic plan and better positions Huntington to serve the full range of needs of middle-market clients within our footprint, as well as those we serve on an increasingly national basis,” Scott Kleinman, co-president of Huntington Commercial Banking, said in a statement.

Banks have been combining at an aggressive pace to cope with a challenging lending environment and better compete against Wall Street giants as well as financial-technology upstarts. There were 208 deals among banks last year with an aggregate value of almost $77.6 billion, according to a report from S&P Global. The analytics firm said it doesn't expect the pace of dealmaking to slow this year “despite an uptick in anti-merger rhetoric from top policy makers.”

Huntington completed its merger with TCF Financial Corp. in June of 2021. Meanwhile, Citizens Financial Group Inc. and Stifel Financial Corp. both struck pacts meant to build out their advisory capabilities last year.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, a unit of Stifel, advised Capstone.