Great Western to Buy F&M for $50M

Citizens Republic Bancorp Inc. in Flint, Mich., announced Monday that it has agreed to sell its F&M Bank subsidiary in Des Moines for $50 million in cash to Great Western Bank, a Sioux Falls, S.D., unit of National Australia Bank.

The deal — which involves 10 branches, $125 million of loans and $410 million of deposits — is expected to close in the third quarter. This is the third deal Great Western has announced since last March. It purchased 20 branches in Colorado from First State Bancorp. in Albuquerque last summer.

In September it announced the purchase of 32 branches in Nebraska from TierOne Corp.

Last week Citizens announced its seventh consecutive quarterly loss, though it narrowed the fourth-quarter loss 66% from a year earlier, to $64.7 million.

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