First M&F Corp. in Kosciusko, Miss., has struck two deals that would give the $1.2 billion-asset company its first branches in two neighboring states.
On Wednesday, First M&F announced that it would buy the $191 million-asset Columbiana Bancshares of Columbiana, Ala., for $31 million and the $32 million-asset Crockett County Bancshares in Bells, Tenn., for $7.4 million.
The acquisitions would be First M&F's first in seven years. Both are expected to close next quarter.
Hugh S. Potts Jr., First M&F's chairman and chief executive, said in a press release that it had been looking to establish branches in the Birmingham, Ala., and Memphis markets. (It has two loan production offices in Memphis.) Crockett County, the parent of Bells Banking Co., has one branch in the Memphis area; Columbiana has six in and around Birmingham.
Columbiana's First National Bank of Shelby has been operating under a cease-and-desist order from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency since May; the enforcement order instructs the bank to find competent management, establish overdraft policies, and improve its loan-review process, among other things. Several lawsuits were filed as a result of the bank's loan and management problems.
First M&F would withhold $2.5 million of the purchase price until these problems are resolved.
