American Bank Holdings Inc. of Silver Spring, Md., announced Wednesday that it has reached an agreement to acquire Grange Bank, a $245 million-asset thrift in Columbus, Ohio.
The deal, expected to close in mid-2007, would add a single branch to the $402 million-asset American Bank's four-branch network in Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Grange Bank is a subsidiary of Grange Mutual Casualty Co., a $1 billion-asset insurance provider. The bank was launched in 1999, but Grange Mutual said its failure to synergize its banking and insurance units triggered a decision to exit banking.
"This is a terrific opportunity for American Bank to pick up substantial additional assets and enter the central Ohio banking market," Jim Plack, American Bank's president and chief executive officer, said in a press release.
Mr. Plack would not say how much American Bank would pay.
