Heartland Financial USA Inc. of Dubuque, Iowa, announced Monday that it had agreed to buy the $36 million-asset Rocky Mountain Bancorp Inc. of Billings, Mont., for about $34.5 million in cash and stock.
The deal, Heartland’s first in the Rockies, continues its strategy of expanding west. In the past five years the $2 billion-asset company has opened banks in Arizona and New Mexico.
The subsidiary Rocky Mountain Bank is to retain its name and charter. Danny T. Skarda, its president and chief executive, is to stay on and keep those titles.
John K. Schmidt, Heartland’s chief financial officer, said that the company plans to bring new trust, investment, insurance, and cash management services to Rocky Mountain and that its back-office functions would be centralized in Dubuque.
Rocky Mountain shareholders would get an equal mix of cash and stock, with each shareholder receiving 16.25 shares of Heartland stock. The deal price is about 1.65 times Rocky Mountain’s book value.
The sale is expected to close in the second quarter.
