First Midwest to Buy Great Lakes Financial in Illinois

By Evan Nemeroff July 08, 2014, 9:27 a.m. EDT 1 Min Read

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First Midwest Bancorp (FMBI) in Itasca, Ill., has agreed to buy Great Lakes Financial Resources (GLFL) in Matteson, Ill.

The $8.3 billion-asset First Midwest will pay about $58 million in cash and stock for the $575 million-asset parent of Great Lakes Bank. The deal, which values Great Lakes at 132% of tangible book value, is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Great Lakes has eight branches in Chicago's southern suburbs, along with $490 million in deposits and $234 million in loans.

"The acquisition of Great Lakes continues our expansion in the greater Chicagoland area and represents an excellent opportunity to build on our already extensive presence in the south suburban markets, Michael Scudder, First Midwest's president and chief executive, said in a press release Tuesday.

First Midwest said in a regulatory filing that it expects the deal to provide mid-single-digit accretion next year. It will take about two years for First Midwest to earn back dilution to tangible book value. The company expects to cut about 35% of Great Lakes" annual noninterest expenses.

First Midwest has about 90 branches Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. The company agreed in April to buy $750 million in deposits, $525 million in loans and a dozen Chicago-area branches from Popular Inc. (BPOP), marking its biggest deal since the 2008 financial crisis. First Midwest disclosed in Tuesday's regulatory filing that it is on pace to close the branch deal in the third quarter, adding that it expects to incur about $1.8 million in after-tax merger costs.

The deals are expected to push First Midwest to $9.7 billion in assets, but the company said in Tuesday's filing that it could avoid crossing $10 billion in assets until 2016. The company added that it would lost $5 million in revenue tied to the Durbin Amendment when it reaches $10 billion in assets and is subjected to caps on interchange fees. Still, the filing said that earnings accretion should exceed the hit the company would take from the cap.

Evan Nemeroff

Managing Editor