Continuing its growth curve through acquisitions, Pine Bluff, Ark.-based Simmons First National Corp. (Nasdaq: SFNC) finalized a $77 million buyout ahead of its expected closing date.
The holding company of Simmons Bank
in May announced the purchase of Athens, Tenn.-based Citizens National Bancorp Inc. with plans to close the deal in the fourth quarter. Citizens National shareholders approved the purchase on Sept. 8, according to a news release.
Through an Oct. 21-scheduled system conversion date, Citizens National will be a separate bank acting as a subsidiary of Simmons.
Simmons - which last year bought Springfield companies Liberty Bancshares Inc. and Ozark Trust and Investment Corp. - recorded second-quarter net income available to common shareholders of $22.9 million, a 14.4 percent increase compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
Simmons entered the Springfield market in mid-2010, when it bought the assets of the failed Southwest Community Bank. Simmons’ purchase of Liberty Bank boosted the company to the No. 1 spot on Springfield Business Journal’s list of the area’s largest U.S. Small Business Administration lenders. Between Oct. 1, 2014, and Sept. 30, 2015, Simmons backed 65 SBA loans with a total value of $17.4 million in southwest Missouri, according to SBJ research. Simmons’ southwest Missouri SBA loan volume was down from $34.4 million a year earlier.
Including Citizens, Simmons now has $8.1 billion in assets, $5.3 billion in loans, $6.5 billion in deposits and more than 145 branches in Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas and Tennessee, according to the release.
SFNC shares were trading at $49.02 as of 9:14 a.m., compared with a 52-week range of $38.30 to $58.75.
