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Bank holding company First Busey (NASDAQ:BUSE) is set to acquire CrossFirst Bankshares (NASDAQ:CFB) in an all-stock transaction valued at ~$916.8M.
The transaction value is based on Busey’s August 26 closing share price of $27.39.
CrossFirst shareholders will receive 0.6675 shares of BUSE in return for each share of common stock.
Busey’s shareholders will own ~63.5% of the combined company, and CrossFirst investors will own about 36.5% on a fully diluted basis.
The merger was unanimously approved by the board of both the companies.
The combined company will have ~$20B in assets, ~$17B in deposits, ~$15B in loans and ~$13B in wealth management assets under care.
The partnership is said to extend Busey’s regional operating model in the markets of Kansas City, Wichita, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver and Phoenix.
The acquisition is expected to be ~20% accretive to Busey’s EPS in 2026. Tangible book value per share dilution is projected to be modest at -0.6%.
The combined company’s capital ratios are expected to be significantly above “well-capitalized” thresholds with 9.6% leverage, 11.0% CET1 and 14.1% total risk-based capital.
The transaction is expected to result in an internal rate of return of over 19%.
The acquisition is expected to close in Q1 or Q2 of 2025.
CrossFirst Bank locations are set to become service centers of BUSE.
The board of the combined company will comprise 13 members, eight from Busey and five from CrossFirst.
BUSE was trading +2.01% Tuesday pre-market at $27.94 and CFB was +0.93% to $18.50.
Source: Press Release
