Frontier Financial Corp. in Everett, Wash., has announced plans to enter Oregon with a $68.9 million deal for the $210 million-asset Bank of Salem.
The deal, announced late Wednesday, would add three Oregon branches to the $3.6 billion-asset Frontier's 44-branch network.
"We fully expect that this will be a very successful partnership as we will use Salem as our foundation to expand our business into the attractive Oregon market," John J. Dickson, Frontier's president and chief executive officer, said in a press release.
In Bank of Salem, Frontier would get one of the industry's most profitable and efficient banks. At March 31, Bank of Salem had a return on assets of 2.5% and a return on equity of 20.28%, both well above the industry averages, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data. Its efficiency ratio was 22.7%.
Frontier said it would retain three of Bank of Salem's top executives, including Jon R. Johnson, its president and CEO. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
