First Financial to Buy Sam Houston

First Financial Bankshares Inc. in Abilene, Texas, said Thursday that it agreed to acquire Sam Houston Financial Corp. in a $22.2 million cash-and-stock deal.

The $3.3 billion-asset First Financial would expand into Huntsville, Texas, by acquiring Sam Houston and its subsidiary, First State Bank, which has $164.2 million of assets.

The deal would give First Financial 11 chartered banks and 52 locations in Texas. The company has not completed a deal since 2005, when it acquired First National Bank of Bridgeport.

"This merger is consistent with our company's growth strategy of acquiring well-run community banks in Texas, one of the largest and fastest-growing states in the nation," First Financial's chairman, president and chief executive, F. Scott Dueser, said in a press release.

First Financial expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter, pending regulatory approval.

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