Denver-based investment bank Headwaters MB has created a financial institutions practice that’ll be headquartered in Chicago and focus on mergers and acquisitions and capital raising for banks with assets of up to $3 billion.

“There’s a significant opportunity to participate in the impending wave of industry consolidation,” said Managing Director Eliot Stark, who before joining Headwaters worked for Chicago-based investment bank Capital Insight Partners. Stark also once served as a corporate development, finance and planning executive for Comerica Bank, where he was involved with dozens of M&A transactions.

Also joining Headwaters as a Chicago managing director is Brian Ytterberg, former head of the financial institutions investment banking group at Howe Barnes Hoefer & Arnett, and Jacob Eisen, also formerly of Capital Insight, a firm he co-founded.

“This is an opportune time for community banks to consider merger opportunities that’ll reduce costs, increase lending limits, and provide better customer service,” Ytterberg said in a statement. “Many of these institutions need to raise capital to satisfy regulatory requirements and to fund growth in a recovering economy.”

At the same time, institutional investors want to invest in community banks, he said.