Pine Bluff, Ark.-based Simmons First National Corp. (Nasdaq: SFNC) plans to eliminate duplicate positions in the Springfield area when it converts Liberty Bancshares Inc. to its brand and system operations this month.
Simmons Chairman and CEO George Makris Jr. said less than 45 positions will become redundant after the April 24 conversion date. Makris and Steve Massanelli, Simmons’ executive vice president of organization development, declined to provide an exact number of affected positions, noting it’s changing daily in the lead-up to the transition.
“Anytime there’s an acquisition, even though we didn’t have really any market overlap with Liberty Bank, there are some job overlaps with regard to back office, (information technology), those kinds of things,” Makris said, noting both Liberty and Simmons employees could be affected. “In fact, sometimes it’s the most skilled labor and the most mobile labor that gets caught up in that.”
Gary Metzger, former Liberty CEO who’s transitioning to the role of chairman for Simmons’ Kansas-Missouri region, said displaced workers would be offered severance packages and given the first opportunity to apply for job openings created via attrition or as a result of the merger.
Metzger said displaced associates would work until at least April 30, three days after Liberty’s banks rebrand under the Simmons name. After the Federal Reserve approved the acquisition Feb. 12 and the companies
finalized the deal Feb. 27, affected employees were informed by mid-March, he said.
“We've done our best at communicating with our associates,” Metzger said via email last month. “I can't speak for every associate, but having job positions eliminated should not have been a surprise.”
Simmons announced its acquisition agreement with Liberty last May and shareholders approved the deal in November. In the transaction valued at $206.9 million, Simmons gains $1.1 billion in assets and $881.2 million in deposits. The Arkansas banking company entered the Springfield market in May 2010 after purchasing 14-year-old Southwest Community Bank’s $96.6 million in assets, according to SBJ archives.
Elsewhere in Missouri, Simmons is reducing its presence.
The
Kansas City Business Journal reported March 31 the holding company would close three of five branches in the Kansas City area because of reduced customer usage.
In the Fed’s February decision, the agency also approved Simmons’ purchase of Union, Tenn.-based Community First Bancshares Inc.
Simmons reported 2014 earnings of $35.7 million, a 54 percent improvement over 2013. The company is scheduled to release its first-quarter earnings April 23.
SFNC shares were trading at $45.45 as of 10:54 a.m., compared to a 52-week range of $34.62 to $46.38.[[In-content Ad]]
