Two North Dakota community banks to merge

Two North Dakota community banks, Pembina County Bankshares in Cavalier and Drayton Bancor, have agreed to merge.

The deal between the $123 million-asset Pembina County and the $145 million-asset Drayton was announced on Friday by Oak Ridge Financial, which advised Pembina County. Terms were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close by yearend.

handshake1-resize.jpg

Pembina County is the holding company for Citizens State Bank – Midwest, which has five branches in North Dakota and Minnesota. Drayton owns KodaBank, which has four branches in North Dakota and Minnesota.

The combination would help the banks improve their service offerings and expand their lending limits, said David Stieber, managing director at Oak Ridge Financial. The combined bank would also be better able to recruit talent, he said.

“Northeastern Dakota, northwestern Minnesota, they are smaller-type markets,” Stieber said. “There is always a challenge to attract talent from the mainstream perspective.”

The two banks are eventually expected to adopt a single name, but they have not yet disclosed it, Stieber said.

The institutions already had connections. Peter Anderson, a director of Citizens State Bank – Midwest, is president of KodaBank. The two banks also share some other common ownership, Stieber said.

Pembina County and Drayton officials could not be reached for comment.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
M&A Community banking North Dakota Minnesota
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER