Big retailer reworks deal to buy bank

WASHINGTON — Home Depot Inc. has reworked its deal to purchase a bank, reinforcing the giant retailer's intention to eventually offer home improvement loans through a subsidiary even as some in Congress are pushing to block such an ownership structure.

Home Depot's move buys it an additional year to close on the purchase of EnerBank USA, a subsidiary of CMS Energy Corp. of Jackson, Mich. Last May, when Atlanta-based Home Depot agreed to purchase EnerBank from CMS, the companies had agreed that the deal would close by April 30, 2007, Home Depot spokesman Tony Wilbert said.

Wilbert said that last week the home improvement retailer and CMS agreed to push that date back to April 30, 2008, three months beyond the sunset of a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. moratorium that has frozen Home Depot's application to change the ownership control of the bank.

"This extension would carry us beyond the moratorium and allow us time to close on the acquisition," Wilbert said. "We thought it was best to go ahead and extend this and continue to press with our application and our plans to acquire EnerBank."

Home Depot's decision signals it is moving in the opposite direction of another big retailer that had hopes of obtaining an industrial loan corporation, or ILC. In March, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., based in Bentonville, Ark., announced it was withdrawing its application to create a new ILC. Its application was filed in 2005 and elicited a firestorm of opposition from community banks, labor groups and many lawmakers.

There are 58 ILCs, 31 of which are chartered in Utah. The House Financial Services Committee passed a bill last week that would prevent retailers like Home Depot and other nonfinancial parent companies from owning an ILC. Supporters of the bill have alleged that it is dangerous to permit the mixture of banking and commerce because of potential threats to the broader banking system if a retailer faltered.

Supporters of these charters counter that ILCs have operated safely since the early 1900s and offer consumers more financial services options. There are 15 existing ILCs owned by nonfinancial companies, including Minneapolis-based Target Corp. and Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson Inc.

Typically, House lawmakers have appeared much more sympathetic to ban retailers from owning banks than their counterparts in the Senate. One reason for this is Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, whose state supervises and charters more than half of the existing ILCs. But last week, Bennett said he would be willing to discuss a legislative "deal" after House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., indicated he would be willing to allow limited exceptions to any ban.