Six months after raising roughly $25 million in an initial public offering, First Savings Financial Group Inc. in Clarksville, Ind., is putting the money to work in a deal that would more than double its asset size.
The $230 million-asset converted mutual said Wednesday that it has agreed to buy the closely held Community First Financial Group Inc. in Corydon, Ind., for $20.5 million in cash.
Larry W. Myers, First Savings' president and chief executive officer, said in an interview that the deal for Community First is just the kind of growth opportunity his company had hoped to take advantage of when it went public in October.
"This is a very good bank. Their loan portfolio is very clean," Myers said. "This is not like a lot of the other merger activity you're seeing with stressed situations."
In buying the $257 million-asset Community First, the Clarksville banking company would double the number of its branches, to 14.
First Savings, whose branches are in two counties, also would enter three new ones.
"We don't have overlapping markets," Myers said. "They're in three counties just to the west of us, so this is a very good fit."
The agreement calls for First Savings to pay $17.13 for each Community First share, but only if the seller's investment portfolio holds up.
Community First has $21.9 million of private-label mortgage- and asset-backed securities. The fair value of these securities has fallen by 50%, to about $10.8 million. If the fair value falls below the 35% mark, it would trigger a decrease in the deal price.
First Savings did not specify how much the price might change.
But at $17.13 a share, the price works out to 115% of Community's tangible book value and a core deposit premium of 1.8%.
The seller's Community First Bank would be merged into First Savings Bank once the deal closes, which is expected to be in the third quarter.
Myers said the planned acquisition should be accretive to his company's earnings per share next year.
