Arvest to Buy 29 Midwest Branches from B of A

Arvest Bank, the nation's third-largest privately held bank, agreed to buy 29 branches from Bank of America (BAC).

The branches are located in Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas in markets that complement Arvest's existing 250 branches.

The Fayetteville, Ark., bank said it will buy 18 branches and pick up the lease obligations to the other 11 locations. The $13.8 billion-asset Arvest will also acquire an undisclosed amount of deposits and loans, though the sale excludes credit card accounts and loans in the branches' mortgage, brokerage and trust-account portfolios.

The companies did not disclose the sales price, though Arvest said it expects to receive regulatory approval in the first quarter.

Arvest will pick up 15 branches in southwestern Missouri and nine offices in Arkansas. The remaining branches are located in Muskogee and Tahleqah, Okla., and Pittsburg, Kan. Arvest said in a press release that it "expects many Bank of America employees to … keep their current positions" after the deal is completed.

"This helps us get into some communities we've not been in, and also helps us complement some communities we've already been in," Rodney Shepard, the president for Arvest's Springfield, Mo., region, said in an interview.

Arvest, which is partly owned by the descendants of Wal-Mart Stores founder Sam Walton, bought Union Bank in Kansas City, Mo., in July. Last month, Bank of America agreed to sell nine branches in Missouri to First State Community Bank in Farmington, Mo. The Chalotte, N.C., company also agreed to sell a number of branches in Maine to Camden National Bank (CMC) in a deal announced in March.