Boatmen's Buying Small Texas Bank As a 'Fill-In' Move

Boatmen's Bancshares of St. Louis said it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tom Green National Bank in San Angelo, Tex.

Boatmen's did not disclose the terms of the purchase, which will add $73 million of assets and three offices to its existing presence in the area through Boatmen's First National Bank of Amarillo.

The agreement came last week, just a few days after Boatmen's bigger move into Kansas and Oklahoma with the announced acquisition of $7.5 billion-asset Fourth Financial Corp. of Wichita, at an indicated value of $1.2 billion in stock.

Tom Green, which is named for the west Texas county where it is based, is "really just a branch purchase," said Boatmen's spokesman Kevin Stitt. He characterized it as a "fill-in" move.

The agreement is subject to regulator and shareholder approvals. Boatmen's said it expects the transaction to close in the first quarter of 1996.

The acquisition is Boatmen's second in San Angelo within a year. The bank announced last November that it would acquire West Side Bancshares, parent company of the Bank of the West, which had $147 million of assets and two branches.

At the same time, Boatmen's bought $168 million-asset First National Bank of Pampa in the Texas Panhandle.

"Our strategy," said Mr. Stitt, "was to add to the existing locations."

All Tom Green employees will keep their jobs, said Mr. Stitt.

The Boatmen's subsidiary in Amarillo currently has 30 offices and $2.2 billion of assets, including about $210 million in San Angelo.

Boatmen's Bancshares overall has $33 billion of assets and more than 500 offices in nine states: Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.

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