When F.N.B. Corp. moved its headquarters back to Pennsylvania from Florida in 2004 it targeted two markets, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, for expansion.
F.N.B., in Hermitage, entered Pittsburgh in February when it bought NSD Bancorp for $136 million. Late Wednesday the $5.8 billion-asset company announced a deal that would move it into Harrisburg - to buy Legacy Bank for $74.6 million in stock and cash.
The $382 million-asset Legacy has eight branches in five central-Pennsylvania counties - Dauphin, Cumberland, Lycoming, Luzerne, and Schuylkill.
F.N.B. expects to close the deal in the second quarter. Then it plans to create a capital region and name George H. Groves, Legacy's chairman and chief executive officer, to run it. The unit would operate as a separately branded division of F.N.B.'s bank subsidiary, First National Bank, retaining the Legacy Bank name.
