BancWest Corp. and Community First Bankshares Inc. of Fargo, N.D., expect the closing date of their acquisition deal to be moved back to the fourth quarter, because they are still waiting on regulatory approval.
The companies jointly announced the delay Thursday, but they did not specify why approval is taking longer then they anticipated.
When the $38.4 billion-asset BancWest, a San Francisco subsidiary of the $40 billion-asset BNP Paribas of Paris, announced in March that it would buy the $5.5 billion-asset Community First, for $1.2 billion in cash.
The deal, which would expand BancWest's operations into 10 new states in the Midwest and the Great Plains, was originally expected to close in the third quarter. Community First's shareholders approved the deal during its annual meeting June 30.
