Marshall Bancorp Completes BANKFIRST Acquisition, Sale of $400 million Credit Card Portfolio

MINNEAPOLIS - Dennis M. Mathisen, Chairman of Marshall Bancorp, Inc., today announced the completion of the acquisition of BANKFIRST Corporation (Sioux Falls, SD). Terms of the acquisition of BANKFIRST, which was owned by the Lund family of Brookings, SD, were not disclosed.

The acquisition increases Marshall Bancorp's total consolidated assets to approximately $575 million from $90 million, raises the firm's lending limit to nearly $12 million from $1 million, and expands its capabilities as a commercial and industrial lending institution. Marshall Bancorp's organization, following the acquisition, includes just over 100 people, including a newly formed management team.

"The BANKFIRST acquisition accelerates our growth strategy, substantially increases our deposit base and creates new opportunities for Marshall to better meet our customers' needs," said Mathisen. "Our institution will continue to focus on building a strong loan portfolio based on sound credit fundamentals. This transaction provides us the additional financial resources necessary to accelerate the expansion of our business."

The Federal Reserve in the Ninth Federal District approved the merger in late December.

Immediately following the acquisition, Marshall Bancorp sold BANKFIRST's approximately $400.0 million credit card portfolio to Rushmore Acquisition, an independent consortium of investors that includes Merrill Lynch and CompuCredit. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

"The sale of the credit card portfolio effectively eliminates BANKFIRST's exposure to sub-prime lending activities," Mathisen said. "As a non-bank entity, Rushmore Acquisition is better equipped to finance and service such a portfolio."

Mr. Mathisen is Chairman of Marshall Bancorp, the holding company that has two wholly owned subsidiaries: Marshall Bank, N.A. and BANKFIRST. Timothy M. Kosiek was named the President and James F. Clifford was named Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer of the BANKFIRST subsidiary.

Mr. Kosiek worked most recently with BANKFIRST where he held leadership positions including Chief Financial Officer for more than three years. In 1980 he began his career with Ernst & Young LLP. His experience and expertise have focused on mortgage and consumer lending, commercial banking, real estate, brokerage, hedge funds and asset backed and other structured financings.

Mr. Clifford served most recently as Senior Vice President and Business Banking Director at Bremer Financial Corporation, a $5.7 billion financial services company headquartered in St. Paul, MN. Prior to joining Bremer in 2001, he served as Chairman and President of Firstar Bank of Minnesota.

Marshall intends to retain BANKFIRST's branch offices in Sioux Falls, Brookings and Toronto, SD, Chandler, AZ, and Minneapolis, MN, as well as its payment systems business. In addition much of the infrastructure of the banking business including executives, managers and key support staff will be retained.

"BANKFIRST brings to Marshall important human resources who are experienced and professional," Mathisen said. "We look forward to a seamless integration, fine tuning the combined entities to capitalize on the major strengths and potential for growth and profitability."

Mr. Mathisen also is a majority owner of The Marshall Group, Inc., a nationwide investment bank that distributes commercial and industrial loans.

About Marshall Bancorp
Marshall Bancorp is multi million-dollar bank holding company. Marshall Bank, N.A. is a nationally chartered banking organization with offices in Minneapolis and Hallock, Minnesota. Marshall Bancorp has principally focused on providing responsive lending facilities to commercial businesses, entrepreneurs and high-net worth individuals and actively solicits federally insured deposits. For more information, please visit www.marshall-bank.com or call 612.376.1400.