GREENVILLE, S.C. – Nelson Mullins represented Redemption Holding Company (RHC), which announced on February 28, 2023 – the last day of Black History Month – its agreement to purchase Utah-based Holladay Bank and Trust, and according to the company, the first time in which an existing commercial bank would become one of the country’s 17 Black-owned Minority Depository Institutions through acquisition.
Attorneys Neil Grayson, Brian Russ, Ben Barnhill, and Mateo Hoyos, and paralegal Mary Campbell composed the deal team assisting the client in this transaction.
According to a company press release, RHC it will become the only Black-owned bank serving the Mountain West pending federal regulatory approval; this would reverse a half-century of Black bank closures and contractions. According to the FDIC, in 2020, there were only 18 Black-owned banks still operating; two years later, just 16 remained.
Ashley D. Bell, the former White House Policy Advisor and Small Business Administration Regional Administrator, will serve as the bank’s executive chairman and CEO. Dr. Bernice A. King, the daughter of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., will serve as the bank’s senior vice president of corporate strategy and alliances, and sit on its advisory board alongside director, co-founder, former National Football League player and investor, Dhani Jones.
Bell said, “Black banks make the American dream possible for all Americans by deploying resources that uniquely address the financial realities of communities that have been systematically excluded, overcharged, and under-capitalized for hundreds of years. Redemption will serve as a lifeline to the next wave of Black and Brown first-time home buyers and small business entrepreneurs across the country,” according to the company’s press release.
As of December 31, 2022, Holladay Bank and Trust, which was established in 1974, had approximately $68mm in total assets and $56mm in total deposits. Its current management and staff will remain upon conversion to Redemption and be complemented by an experienced management team and RHC’s world-class board of finance and technology experts. Initial investors in RHC include a growing number of Black doctors, lawyers, and business leaders from across the country.
Nelson Mullins’ financial institutions corporate and regulatory practice group represents financial institutions, FinTech companies, and alternative financial services companies. Established in 1897, Nelson Mullins is an Am Law 100 firm of more than 1,000 attorneys, policy advisors and professionals with 32 offices in 16 states and Washington, D.C. For more information, go to www.nelsonmullins.com.
View RHC’s press release.
