Simmons Bank signs first purchase deal of 2017

Simmons First National Corp. (Nasdaq: SFNC), which last year announced three acquisition deals, wasted little time before moving on its first buyout of 2017.

The Pine Bluff, Arkansas-based operator of six Simmons Bank branches in Springfield entered a definitive agreement to purchase Fort Worth-based First Texas BHC Inc. for $462 million in cash and stock, according to a news release.

The parent company of Southwest Bank, First Texas held $2 billion in assets, $1.8 billion in loans, $1.5 billion in deposits and 16 branches as of Sept. 30. Simmons had $8.4 billion in assets, $6.7 billion in deposits and $5.6 billion in loans at the end of 2016.

The announcement follows Simmons Bank’s most recent acquisition deal penned in December. The $564.4 million purchase of Southwest Bancorp Inc. (Nasdaq: OKSB), the operator of Bank SNB, would put Simmons Bank in three new states: Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado.

“We now have the opportunity to substantially grow our presence in the Fort Worth metropolitan area,” Simmons Chairman and CEO George Makris Jr. said in the release. “The Southwest Bank brand itself is very well known and respected, and represents a legacy of quality banking service. Because of that legacy, we will retain the Southwest Bank brand.”

Subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, the purchase of Southwest Bank is expected to close in the third quarter.

Simmons cemented its Springfield-area presence in 2015 via the acquisitions of Liberty Bancshares Inc. and Ozark Trust and Investment Corp. The company reported 2016 net income of $96.8 million, a 30.6 percent increase compared with 2015.

SFNC shares were trading at $60.60 as of 8:43 a.m., compared with a 52-week range of $38.30 to $67.

[[In-content Ad]]