The Banknorth Group of Maine announced plans on Tuesday to buy CCBT Financial Companies for $300 million in stock. Barring any unforeseen shareholder protests or regulatory hang-ups, the deal will go through by mid-2004.
CCBT is the corporate parent to Cape Cod Bank & Trust and has ties to the region stretching back more than a century.
Local businessman Chuck Carey, who runs a Mid-Cape commercial real estate brokerage firm said that Banknorth's larger size presented opportunities for local businesses as Banknorth could give local businesses access to greater amounts of capital than CCBT could have.
CCBT has roughly $1.4 billion in assets. Banknorth has $26 billion.
It may be too soon to tell how easily Banknorth will open its purse strings to local businesses, but the bank appears to have a strong track record of lending to smaller businesses.
