WesBanco to Buy Your Community Bankshares in Ind.

WesBanco in Wheeling, W.Va., has agreed to buy Your Community Bankshares in New Albany, Ind.

The $8.6 billion-asset WesBanco said in a press release Tuesday that it will pay $221 million, or $39.05 a share, in cash and stock for the $1.6 billion-asset Your Community Bankshares. The deal, which is expected to close in the third or fourth quarter, values the seller at 173% of its tangible book value.

The merger "meaningfully expands WesBanco's franchise into attractive markets in Kentucky and southern Indiana," Todd Clossin, WesBanco's president and chief executive, said in the release.

WesBanco said it expects the deal to be up to 7% accretive to its 2017 earnings, excluding merger-related expenses. It should take less than 3.5 years to earn back the deal's expected dilution to WesBanco's tangible book value.

WesBanco said it will take steps to shrink its balance sheet to avoid crossing $10 billion in assets, where it would face mandatory stress testing and caps on interchange fees. "While we have been gradually building our infrastructure over the past few years … we believe the most prudent course of action is to shrink our balance sheet such that we do not cross over the $10 billion mark at closing," Clossin said.

Jim Rickard, Your Community Bankshare's president and chief executive, will join WesBanco as market president for Kentucky and southern Indiana.

WesBanco earlier this year completed its acquisition of the $1.9 billion-asset ESB Financial.

Raymond James, Phillips Gardill Kaiser & Altmeyer and K&L Gates advised WesBanco. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and Frost Brown Todd advised Your Community Bankshares.

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