Arnold & Porter Advises Broadway Financial Corporation in $1 Billion Combination With CFBanc Corporation, Creating Largest Black-led MDI in the US

Arnold & Porter advised Broadway Financial Corporation (Broadway) on its recently announced merger of equals with CFBanc Corporation (City First) to create the largest Black-led Minority Depository Institution (MDI) in the US with more than $1 billion in combined assets under management and approximately $850 million in total depository institution assets. The transaction is expected to close in early 2021.

Subsidiaries of both institutions hold strong financial positions as Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), and share a longstanding history of advancing economic and social equity through the provision of capital in low- to moderate-income communities. Since the beginning of 2015, both subsidiaries have collectively deployed more than $1.1 billion combined in loans and investments in their communities. The combined institution will maintain its CDFI status, requiring it to deploy at least 60% of its lending into low- to moderate-income communities.

Combining the two institutions will increase their collective commercial lending capacity for investments in multifamily affordable housing, small businesses, and nonprofit development in financially underserved urban areas, while creating a national platform for impact investors.

The Arnold & Porter team was led by senior counsel James Walther and partner Edward Deibert, who co-heads the firm's Mergers & Acquisitions practice.