# Sky Financial Group

Sky Financial Group, Inc., was a diversified financial services holding company that operated in the Midwestern United States from 1998 until its 2008 acquisition by rival bank Huntington Bancshares. Its largest subsidiary was Sky Bank, a commercial and retail banking company headquartered in Salineville, Ohio, that operated 330 financial centers and over 400 ATMs in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan and West Virginia. Other wholly owned subsidiaries included investment, trust, and insurance services.
Sky Financial Group was headquartered in Bowling Green, Ohio, and was formed by the 1998 "merger of equals" of the $2.2 billion Mid Am, Inc., of Bowling Green and the $1.8 billion Citizens Bancshares, Inc., of Salineville. The resulting $4 billion company ranked as the 96th largest American bank. At the time of its 2008 acquisition by Huntington, Sky Financial Group was the 43rd largest bank holding company in the country with over $17.6 billion in assets. The company had 4330 employees.

## Huntington acquisition

On December 20, 2006, Sky Financial Group announced that Huntington Bancshares, based out of Columbus, Ohio, would be taking over the company. This was considered a merger, with Huntington Bancshares taking the upper hand. Beginning in March 2007, Sky and Huntington began consolidating and closing redundant offices. When completed, Sky's major operations centers in Bowling Green, Ohio, Toledo, Ohio, Cleveland, Ohio, and East Liverpool, Ohio, were then closed. Additionally, 88 banking centers (about 25% of Sky's total footprint) were consolidated. Huntington's withdrawal in these markets has resulted in their weakening economically. Several have questioned the impact on local economy this merger will have on the communities where Sky and Huntington co-exist, including former Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Cleveland). Kucinich had asked the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank to hold hearings concerning the Sky-Huntington merger. The Federal Reserve approved the merger without regard to Kucinich's requests.

## Acquisition and merger history

Prior to its merger with Huntington Bancshares, Sky completed fourteen acquisitions and mergers during its nine years of operation.
| Date announced | Company | Notes |
| August 24, 2006 | Wells River Bancorp | Wells River Bancorp operated Perpetual Savings, a $74.7 million bank with 3 offices in Columbiana County, Ohio. |
| August 9, 2006 | Waterfield Mortgage Company | Waterfield Mortgage operated Union Federal, a $2.5 billion bank with 42 branches in Indiana. Union Federal Bank was the fourth largest bank in Indianapolis, Indiana. |
| June 21, 2005 | Falls Bank | Falls Bank was an $83.6 million bank that operated two full-service branches in the Akron, Ohio market. |
| December 22, 2004 | Belmont Bancorp | Belmont had $297 million in assets and 12 branches in the Wheeling, West Virginia area. Sky now has 280 branches. |
| September 17, 2004 | Prospect Bancshares | Prospect had $202 million in assets and four branches in the Columbus, Ohio area. |
| January 8, 2004 | Second Bancorp | Second was $2.1 billion in assets and operated 33 branches in the Warren, Ohio area. Sky now has nearly $15 billion in assets and over 260 offices. |
| July 16, 2003 | GLB Bancorp | GLB Bancorp operated Great Lakes Bank, with 13 branches in Lake and Cuyahoga counties. |
| October 24, 2002 | Metropolitan Financial Corp. | Metropolitan Bank was a $1.5 billion bank that operated 30 offices in the Cleveland area. Sky now has 254 financial centers and $12.5 billion in assets, making it the 54th largest bank holding company in the country. |
| May 5, 2002 | Three Rivers Bancorp | Three Rivers was a $1 billion commercial bank with 25 offices in the metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. |
| July 11, 2001 | Standard Federal Bank | Standard Federal Bank sold ten northwest Ohio offices. Sky now has 205 financial centers and has #2 market share in Wood and Lucas counties. |
| June 7, 1999 | Mahoning National Bancorp | Mahoning National was an $809 million bank holding company headquartered in Youngstown, Ohio that operated 20 banking offices in Mahoning and Trumbull counties. Sky Financial now has $7.7 billion in assets and ranked 66th largest bank holding company in America. |
| December 17, 1998 | Wood Bancorp | Wood Bancorp operated First Federal Bank, a $166 million federal savings bank with seven offices in Wood County, Ohio. |
| December 14, 1998 | First Western Bancorp | First Western was a $2.2 billion bank holding company headquartered in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Sky Financial now a $7 billion financial services organization with 210 banking centers. |
| July 22, 1998 | The Ohio Bank | The Ohio bank had over $600 million in assets and operated 18 branches with 250 employees. It was the number one market share holder in Hancock and Putnam counties. |
| May 22, 1998 | Mid Am and Citizens Bancshares | Merger of equals between the $2.2 billion Mid Am, Inc. and the $1.8 billion Citizens, Inc. resulting in a combined bank with 144 branches and over 2,300 employees. |