Regions continues nonbank buying spree with deal for tech M&A firm

Regions Financial is acquiring a mergers and acquisitions firm that specializes in the technology industry — its third deal for a nonbank company this year.

Clearsight Advisors will be folded into the Birmingham, Alabama, company’s capital markets division. Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close by the end of the year, were not disclosed.

Clearsight offers consulting services on M&A deals between entrepreneurs and investors involved in high-growth software companies, cloud-service and information technology providers, along with data and tech management firms.

Regions Bank
Regions Financial's deal for Clearsight Advisors follows acquisitions earlier this year of home-improvement lender Enerbank USA and commercial real estate lender Sabal Capital Partners.
Gary Tramontina

“The combination of Clearsight’s sector-specific M&A and financial advisory services, and Regions’ extensive technology sector corporate finance, lending and capital markets solutions, represents a significant opportunity to deliver value for our collective client base,” Joel Stephens, head of capital markets at Regions, said in a press release Friday.

After Regions closed on its acquisitions of the home-improvement lender Enerbank USA and the commercial real estate lender Sabal Capital Partners, company executives said in October they weren’t done seeking out new avenues to grow fee revenue.

Regions’ capital markets division is one of the fastest- growing within the $156 billion-asset company. The unit’s income increased 43% in the third quarter from the previous three months on a record amount of loan syndication deals and M&A advisory fees, according to the company’s latest financial release.

Regions plans to keep Clearsight’s headquarters in McLean, Virginia, and its offices in New York and Dallas.

“Strategically, we were seeking a partner that would help us expand our ability to provide a more fulsome suite of services and capital options for our growing client base, while identifying the right culture match for our team,” Clearsight co-founder and CEO Joel Kallett said in the press release.

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