Old National Bank

Anchor Bank sold to Old National for $303M

Excerpt:

Anchor Bank, the second largest community bank in the Twin Cities, will be acquired by Old National Bancorp in a deal worth $303.2 million, the banks announced Tuesday morning.

Anchor Bank has 17 branches in the Twin Cities and one in Mankato. The company has $2.1 billion in assets, second only to Bremer Bank in the Twin Cities. The deal must still be approved by federal regulators and Anchor Bank stockholders.

“It’s bittersweet,” said Anchor CEO Carl Jones, whose father Winton Jones founded the bank in 1967. “Our family started looking for new ways to help Anchor support our growth, and the growth of our customers. We decided that partnering with a larger organization would be the best option for our employees and customers.”

Analysts said the transaction is likely to be the first of several in Minnesota for the rapidly expanding Old National, which is headquartered in Evansville, Ind.

Since 2011, Old National has snapped up nine banking companies as part of an aggressive Midwestern expansion that cost more than $900 million and allowed the bank to push into Michigan and Wisconsin. The deals added more than 180 branches and assets of more than $9 billion, according to the company’s filings with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

Bob Jones, president and CEO of Old National, said the company would be interested in pursuing other acquisitions in Minnesota.

“We love the state — we love the market,” said Jones, who is unrelated to the family that owns Anchor Bank. “Any time there is another opportunity here, we’d look at it.”

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