Centrue Financial Corp. in Kankakee, Ill., closed 2004 with the announcement that it was buying a small bank in southern Illinois.
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The $600 million-asset company said late Friday that it would pay $3.3 million in cash and stock for Illinois Community Bancorp in Effingham. Illinois Community, founded in 1959, has one branch and about $36 million of assets.
Centrue was created in late 2003 when Kankakee Bancorp Inc., headquartered about 60 miles from Chicago, acquired State Bank of Aviston in Aviston, Ill. Buying Illinois Community would give Centrue 20 branches from northeast Illinois to St. Louis.
The deal is expected to close in the second quarter.
