First Busey Corporation Finalizes Acquisition Of Merchants And Manufacturers Bank Corporation And Merchants And Manufacturers Bank

Author: Benzinga Newsdesk | April 01, 2024 09:07am

First Busey Corporation ("Busey") (NASDAQ:BUSE), the holding company for Busey Bank, announced the completion of its acquisition of Merchants and Manufacturers Bank Corporation ("M&M"), the holding company for Merchants and Manufacturers Bank ("M&M Bank"), effective April 1, 2024. The transaction was previously announced on November 27, 2023.

 

At the effective time of the merger, each share of M&M common stock converted to the right to receive, at the election of each shareholder, and subject to proration and adjustment as provided in the merger agreement, (i) $117.74 in cash, (ii) 5.7294 shares of Busey common stock, or (iii) mixed consideration of $34.55 in cash and 4.0481 shares of Busey common stock, with total consideration consisting of approximately $12.2 million in cash and 1,429,324 shares of Busey common stock.

 

Busey will operate M&M Bank as a separate banking subsidiary of Busey until it is merged with Busey Bank, which is expected to occur in June 2024. At the time of the bank merger, M&M's banking offices will become banking offices of Busey, except for the banking office located at 990 Essington Rd., Joliet, Illinois, which is expected to be closed in connection with the bank merger. The combined pro forma franchise will serve customers through 62 full-service locations, including 21 in Central Illinois markets, 17 in suburban Chicago markets, 20 in the St. Louis metropolitan area, one in Indianapolis and three in Southwest Florida. The pro forma organization had combined assets of $12.8 billion, $8.1 billion in loans, $10.7 billion in deposits and $12.1 billion in wealth assets under care as of December 31, 2023.

Busey Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Van A. Dukeman said, "Through this partnership, Busey and M&M will advance our community banking culture through our shared, longstanding commitments to supporting our associates, customers and communities. Our combined franchise benefits our clients through enhanced capabilities and products, including M&M's Life Equity Loan® product, while a growing, dynamic organization presents more professional growth opportunities for associates."

The partnership enhances Busey's existing deposit, commercial banking and wealth management presence in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Through this transaction, Busey's deposit share ranking in DuPage and Will Counties improves to #4 while our share in the Chicago MSA improves to #8 (based on 2023 FDIC Summary of Deposits data and excluding large financial institutions with $100 billion+ in assets). Additionally, this partnership solidifies Busey Bank's position as #13 in total deposit market share across the state of Illinois and #4 in deposit share for banks headquartered in Illinois.

M&M Bank was founded in 1969 as a locally-owned bank valuing its roles and responsibilities as a community bank, bringing a focused expertise in business banking. M&M Bank continues to be dedicated to its founding principles by being actively involved in the communities it serves and providing unparalleled service delivered by experienced local professionals. As of December 31, 2023, M&M Bank had total consolidated assets of $0.5 billion, total loans of $0.4 billion and total deposits of $0.4 billion.

M&M Chief Executive Officer and Director Brad W. Butler shared, "Thanks to talented associates, both Busey and M&M have proven successful in providing premier customer service while building and maintaining strong generational relationships with those we serve. We are thrilled M&M Bank customers will continue to experience service excellence with the bankers they know and trust, while benefiting from expanded banking products and Busey's extensive service center footprint across Illinois, Missouri, Florida and Indiana."

Both companies support and value an engaged and empowered workforce and are committed to building a premier, service-oriented, community banking experience. Busey has been named among American Banker's Best Banks to Work For since 2016; voted as one of the Best Places to Work in Illinois by associates since 2016; listed among 2022 and 2023's America's Best Banks by Forbes—in addition to various wellness, training and development, philanthropic and other workplace awards. We are honored to be consistently recognized nationally and locally for our engaged culture of integrity and commitment to community development.

Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP served as legal counsel to Busey. ArentFox Schiff LLP served as legal counsel and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., a Stifel Company served as financial advisor to M&M.

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