Regions Financial Corp., Birmingham, said Thursday it would acquire American Bancshares of Monroe, La., in a stock transaction valued at $61 million.
American is the parent company of First American Bank and Trust of Louisiana, which has $304 million of assets, $276 million in deposits and eight offices in Monroe, West Monroe, Shreveport, and Bossier City.
Regions, previously known as First Alabama Bancshares, has $10.4 billion of assets and one other transaction pending in Louisiana: the acquisition of BNR Bancshares of Baton Rouge.
The previous day, Hibernia Corp. signed a definitive agreement to acquire Pioneer Bancshares of Shreveport for $74.3 million in stock.
The addition of Pioneer, a one-bank holding company with $366 million of assets, deposits of $324 million, and 11 branches, will increase Hibernia's deposit market share in Shreveport and Bossier City to 22% from 12%.
Hibernia, which is based in New Orleans, will also pick up Pioneer's mortgage subsidiary, the largest in northwest Louisiana.
The $400 million servicing portfolio will boost the size of Hibernia's own $1.25 billion portfolio by 32%.
Hibernia currently has $5 billion of assets. The Pioneer transaction and four other pending mergers will increase that to $6.3 billion.