Mackinac Financial in Manistique, Mich., has agreed to buy First National Bank of Eagle River in Wisconsin.
The $740 million-asset Mackinac said in a press release Tuesday that it will enter Wisconsin after it buys First National, a $140 million-asset unit of Ellis Bankshares, for $12.5 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in the first or second quarter.
First National has three branches, which Mackinac expects to keep open. Mackinac also said it expects the acquisition to produce "meaningful" earnings accretion immediately. It would take the company about two and a half years to earn back any dilution to tangible book value. Mackinac said it expects the companies to incur a total of about $500,000 in transaction expenses.
"We are thrilled to enter the northern Wisconsin market and expand our footing into another state for the first time," said Kelly George, president and chief executive of Mackinac's banking unit. "The scale and accretion gained through the transaction should provide additional strength to our operating metrics as well as empower us to further support the local communities we serve."
Mackinac was advised by Piper Jaffray and Honigman Miller Schwartz & Cohn. Ellis was advised by Rippe and Kingston Capital Advisors and Winthrop & Weinstine.
