November 2001

CROWE CHIZEK CONTINUES SYSTEMATIC EXPANSION

Crowe Chizek and Company LLP has reached an agreement to acquire PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's practice based in Mishawaka, Ind. (near South Bend), which serves clients in northern Indiana and southern Michigan (an area known as Michiana).

"We've had great success with the Fort Wayne practice acquired from PricewaterhouseCoopers last year and feel this acquisition will be just as successful," said Crowe Chizek CEO Mark Hildebrand. As reported in the January 2001 CPA Journal, Crowe Chizek, a top-10 U.S. accounting firm based in Indianapolis, acquired Pricewater-houseCoopers's Fort Wayne, Ind., practice in November 2001.

PricewaterhouseCoopers had announced in June its plans to divest itself of several offices in 2001, one of them the Michiana area practice first established in 1963, which today includes business assurance, tax compliance, and consulting services.

"It's clear to me and the market that PricewaterhouseCoopers is focusing itself on the major metropolitan markets and the global markets," said Jim Powers, the Crowe Chizek partner in charge of Northern Indiana.

"PricewaterhouseCoopers's Michiana practice is very similar to many of Crowe Chizek's other Indiana offices. Also, Michiana is a competitive, mid-market community, so the acquisition makes sense. There won't be a major cultural change. There's great mutual respect between the Crowe Chizek and PricewaterhouseCoopers people, and the great majority of the PricewaterhouseCoopers people, including all of the partners, will be staying." Crowe Chizek anticipates integrating the Pricewater-houseCoopers staff into its offices in South Bend and Elkhart, Ind.

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