Busey Bank to acquire Pulaski Bank

Pulaski Bank will be acquired by First Busey Corp. out of Illinois, according to a news release.

Under the terms of the agreement, First Busey, the holding company for Busey Bank, will purchase Pulaski Bank for nearly $211 million. Shareholders of Pulaski Financial Corp., the holding company for Pulaski Bank, will receive 0.79 shares of Busey stock for each share of Pulaski stock, which comes out to a value of $210.7 million, according to the release.

Pulaski Bank Home Lending has an office on South Main Street in Wichita while Pulaski’s home offices are in St. Louis, where it has 13 community bank branches. Pulaski also operates 20 mortgage lending offices throughout the Midwest. Busey is headquarted in Champaign, Ill.

“This will offer us the ability to further capitalize on opportunities in St. Louis,” said Gary Douglass, president/CEO of Pulaski in the release. “Busey will provide us the opportunity to offer larger commercial credits, spurring even greater economic and community development. Pulaski’s strong mortgage banking division will complement Busey’s existing fee-based business as well as providing meaningful cross sale opportunities to mortgage customers.”

The pending transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and approval by Busey and Pulaski shareholders and is anticipated to be closed sometime next year, according to the release. Pulaski Bank was founded in 1922 and controls over $1.5 billion in assets. First Busey is a $3.9 billion holding company, according to the release.

This story was originally published December 4, 2015 at 1:57 PM with the headline "Busey Bank to acquire Pulaski Bank."