CenterBank of Ohio Terminates Deal for Peoples Community

A struggling Ohio banking company is back on the market after a second deal to sell itself fell through.

Peoples Community Bancorp Inc. in West Chester said late Monday that CenterBank in Milford has terminated its deal to buy Peoples' deposits, its branches, and most of its $721 million of assets. The deal, announced in September, had been expected to close by the end of last year. The $87 million-asset CenterBank would have paid a 5.5% premium on Peoples' deposits, but a total deal price was never disclosed.

A clause in the agreement allowed either party to back out if the deal had not closed by Dec. 31.

To facilitate the deal, Community Bank Strategic Equity Fund LLC, a St. Paul private-equity fund that specializes in helping institutions with $50 million to $500 million of assets, had agreed to invest $80 million in CenterBank. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday, Peoples said it has extended its agreement with the fund until Jan. 31 but must find another buyer.

Integra Bank Corp. in Evansville, Ind., called off a deal to buy Peoples in January of last year.

Peoples has been struggling for several years. Its nonperforming asset ratio was 6.3% at the end of the third quarter, versus 3.7% a year earlier. It lost $46 million in the first nine months of last year, compared with $1.8 million a year earlier.

Since March it has been operating under enforcement orders from the Office of Thrift Supervision that bar it from writing new loans.

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Community banking
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