Credentia Advisors Closes First Two Transactions

Credentia Advisors, LLC recently closed its first Mergers & Acquisitions deal and first Capitalization Consulting deals. The M&A deal involved the August 31^st completion of Renasant Bank (“Renasant”)'s acquisition of RBC Bank (USA) (“RBC Bank”)'s $680 million asset Birmingham, Alabama-based Trust department, which serves clients in Alabama and Georgia. The second, a Capitalization Consulting deal, involved the $12.0 million investment in FLS Energy, Inc. (“FLS”) by New Energy Capital Cleantech Infrastructure Fund on September 29, 2011.

“The M&A deal environment is patently difficult, so getting to the heart of the matter and majoring on strategic fit is crucial,” said D. Ryan Tyler, president and founder of Credentia Advisors. “This deal provided an opportunity for deal-making to flourish. We moved together in placing the trust asset and talent into an ideal home in a successful way.”

With our acquisition of this trust unit now complete, we have added an experienced and talented team to grow our financial services market share in our Alabama and Georgia markets," said Renasant Chairman and CEO, E. Robinson McGraw. "Over the past 12 months, we have taken advantage of many opportunities to improve our profitability and expand our footprint throughout the southeast and we look to capitalize on future growth opportunities as they become available."

Renasant Bank is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Renasant Corporation. The acquisition by Renasant will not affect the separate trust operations of RBC Wealth Management in the US or RBC Trust Company (Delaware) Limited (“RBC Trust”).

FLS Energy is a solar energy generation company that designs, installs, finances, and owns commercial hot water (SHW) and photovoltaic (PV) systems. FLS Energy was named by Inc. Magazine as the 46th fastest growing company in the U.S. in 2010. Tyler stated, “This $12 million investment will provide the working capital for FLS Energy to develop commercial, industrial and utility-scale solar hot water and solar electric projects from coast to coast.”

Michael Shore, CEO of FLS Energy, added, ”Credentia is well connected, hard-working, and savvy about investment in the clean energy space. The Credentia team worked diligently in finding and refining the investor and the investment structure to fit our dynamic business.”

Tyler established Credentia, a boutique M&A firm, in January 2011. Its management and client base were part of RBC Bank's Investment Banking Group which was divested in December 2010 as part of RBC Bank's effort to divest of specialty businesses that did not align with corporate strategy.

Credentia is a global M&A and capitalization consulting firm that matches international reach with boutique-level service and clear allegiance. Credentia is currently working on select transactions including alternative energy (wind, solar) and medical equipment capitalization consulting assignments and an international fund launch focused on Latin American firms exporting basic materials to China.

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