Focused on 2 types of green

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – During his bank's namesake golf tournament last year, Wachovia Corp. Chief Executive Ken Thompson was in the middle of sealing his biggest deal ever – the $24 billion purchase of Golden West Financial Corp.

This week, Thompson can pay a little more attention to the action at the Quail Hollow Club, but he still faces challenges melding operations with the California mortgage specialist and building a West Coast presence.

In a clubhouse interview Friday, Thompson, who carries an 11 handicap, took a few minutes to talk to the Observer about Golden West, future deals, the ongoing takeover battle for ABN Amro Holding NV and his golf game. Questions and answers are edited for space and clarity.

Q. What was it like playing with reigning champ Jim Furyk at Wednesday's pro-am event?

It was really nice. He's a real gentleman, a lot of fun. He lives in Ponte Vedra Beach (Florida), and we've got a beach house there, so we have a lot in common.

Q. How did you play?

Not bad. I had some good holes. In fact, I had three birdies. I'm not going to say how many bogies I had.

Q. What did you think of the Tiger Woods-Michael Jordan pairing at the pro-am?

It was a no-brainer. It was great for Charlotte, and I think it was great for Wachovia. We got wonderful publicity. I actually was on the first tee when they teed off. It was exciting to be there. It was sort of rarified air.

Q. Last year you juggled deal making with appearances at the tournament. What was that like?

It was hectic. I really didn't see any of the tournament. I got out here (during the final round) and the leader had two holes to play. I walked the playoff and then immediately ran to the airport to get to New York to finish up that deal. It's almost like the tournament never happened for me last year, so I'm enjoying this one double.

Q. One year later, how is Golden West going?

We're thrilled. It's a great organization. (Former co-CEOs) Herb and Marion Sandler had a fantastic reputation in the industry, and a year later we know even better why their reputation was so good. In spite of the fact that the mortgage market is weaker than we projected when we did the deal, we're very happy with the results.

Q. When will you get back in the acquisition game?

We promised the Street we wouldn't do a big acquisition until after we finished the integration of Golden West. I think late fourth quarter this year we'll have that behind us. We could do something after that, but we're in no rush to do anything. We're growing nicely organically. We're in markets that we like a lot now. Getting into the West was very important to us, and we've got a lot of growth prospects out there that we need to really realize.

Q. Talk about where you'd like to be in the U.S.

We are interested in growth areas, particularly growth areas with big populations. We think we've got the perfect footprint to fit both of those criteria – down the East Coast and across the Southwest and up the West Coast. We pretty much have the geography we want. What we've got to do now is build out the density of our western markets. That's what we'll be working on.

Q. Do you need to be bigger internationally?

We will over time be more international. We're growing some lines of business pretty rapidly internationally. Our international revenue is growing at about a 33 percent compound annual growth rate now, but it's less than 5 percent of our total revenue. So it's not a big business line but at that kind of growth rate it's going to get bigger fairly quickly.

Q. Having fought off a hostile bid when you merged First Union and Wachovia in 2001, what do you think of the battle for ABN Amro? (As part of an international takeover fight, Charlotte's Bank of America Corp. is trying to buy ABN's U.S. operations, Chicago-based LaSalle Bank).

It has provided flashbacks for me. Hostile situations are not fun. I would imagine that this guy Groenink at ABN Amro (Chief Executive Rijkman Groenink) has probably got a severe case of ulcers at this point. He's got a lot of sharks swimming around him in the water. It'll be interesting to watch. For the people who are interested in banking and finance it's going to be like a soap opera.

Q. Any advice for (Bank of America CEO) Ken Lewis?

He doesn't need any advice from me. He knows what to do.

Q. Would Wachovia be interested in any of ABN Amro's parts?

No.

Q. Will you be out at the tournament this weekend?

I'll be out here all day (today) and Sunday. I'm looking forward to it. I hope it's better weather, but if this is as bad as it gets we can live with it.

Q. Will there be any merger distractions?

None from me.

Provider:
Knight-Ridder / Tribune Business News / Charlotte Observer, The (NC)