Company: BWFG
Filing Date: 2025-03-05
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001505732-25-000052
Chunk: 67

Company: Bankwell Financial Group, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-05
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 67
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 business.

In addition to pursuing organic growth, we may consider the acquisition of whole financial institutions or related lines of business to achieve desired growth. There are numerous execution risks with acquisitions, and we cannot assure you that we will be successful in such pursuits. 

We may consider acquisition opportunities that we believe complement our activities and can enhance our profitability. Acquisition activities could be material to our business and involve a number of risks and challenges, including but not limited to:

•Incurring time and expense associated with identifying and evaluating potential acquisitions and negotiating potential transactions, resulting in our attention being diverted from the operation of our existing business;

•Encountering competition for acquisitions from financial institutions and other entities with similar business strategies that have greater financial resources, relevant experience and more employees;

•Obtaining regulatory approvals with respect to acquisitions, and ensuring that we will not become subject to regulatory actions in the future that could restrict our growth;

•Using inaccurate estimates and judgments to evaluate credit, operations, management and market risks with respect to the target institution or assets;

•Potential exposure to unknown or contingent liabilities of banks and businesses we acquire;

•The time and expense required to integrate the operations and employees of the combined businesses;

•Inconsistencies in standards, controls, procedures and policies that adversely affect our ability to maintain relationships with clients, depositors and employees or to achieve the anticipated benefits of the acquisition; or

•Risks of impairment to goodwill or other than temporary impairment.

Depending on the condition of any institution or assets or liabilities that we may acquire, that acquisition may, at least in the near term, adversely affect our capital and earnings and, if not successfully integrated with our organization, may continue to have such effects over a longer period. We may not be successful in overcoming these risks or any other problems encountered in connection with pending or potential acquisitions, and any acquisition we may consider will be subject to prior regulatory approval. Our inability to overcome these risks could have an adverse effect on our profitability, return on equity and return on assets, our ability to grow and enhance shareholder value, which, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Further, if we experience difficulties with the integration process, the anticipated benefits of the investment or acquisition transaction may not be realized fully or at all or may take longer to realize than expected.

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Some institutions we may acquire may have distressed assets and there can be no assurance that we would be able to realize the value we predict from these assets or that we would make