Fed's Blessing Is Last Hurdle for Two Bank of the Ozarks Deals

Approval from the Federal Reserve Board is all that stands between Bank of the Ozarks in Little Rock, Ark., and two acquisitions that will add $6.1 billion in assets.

The $11.4 billion-asset Bank of the Ozarks said in a press release Friday that it received approvals from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Arkansas State Bank Department to buy Community & Southern Holdings in Atlanta and C1 Financial in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Bank of Ozarks agreed in October to buy the $4.4 billion-asset C&S for nearly $800 million. The next month, the company announced plans to buy the $1.7 billion-asset C1 for $402.5 million.

All that remains is Fed approval, which Bank of the Ozarks hopes to receive by the end of June.

It is unclear what exactly held up approval, though Bank of the Ozarks said earlier this month that it had faced a Community Reinvestment Act protest tied to the C&S deal.

George Gleason, Bank of the Ozarks' chairman and chief executive, said during the company's first-quarter earnings call that Ozarks essentially "inherited" a complaint that was filed against C&S when that bank agreed to buy CertusBank branches in Florida. Though Gleason said he expected to complete the deal, he noted there could be some conditions attached to regulatory approval.

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