Bank of the Ozarks, WesBanco Complete Mergers

Bank of the Ozarks in Little Rock, Ark., and WesBanco in Wheeling, W.Va., each completed acquisitions this week.

The $6.8 billion-asset Bank of the Ozarks on Tuesday closed on its purchase of the $1.5 million-asset Intervest Bancshares. The deal, announced in August and valued at about $229 million, gives the company seven additional branches in Florida and New York. 

Bank of the Ozarks also established a stabilized-properties group within its lending division as part of the acquisition, it said in a press release. 

"Intervest's New York and Florida lending teams have a long track record of serving commercial real estate borrowers not currently served by Bank of the Ozarks," Chairman and Chief Executive George Gleason said in a press release Tuesday. 

Bank of the Ozarks has expanded aggressively in the past few years. The company's Intervest purchase is its twelfth acquisition in the past five years, the release said.

Separately, WesBanco in Wheeling, W. Va., completed its acquisition of the $1.9 billion-asset ESB Financial.

That deal, valued at $324 million, expands the WesBanco's presence in western Pennsylvania. The two companies announced their agreement in October.

"With the acquisition of ESB, WesBanco has become a top-10 player in the Pittsburgh market," Todd Clossin, the $8.3 billion-asset company's president and CEO, said in a press release Tuesday. 

WesBanco intends to rebrand ESB branches and complete a data-processing conversion in April.