Main Street Trust Inc. of Champaign, Ill., announced Monday that it had agreed to buy Citizens First Financial Corp. of Bloomington, Ill., for $52 million in stock and cash.
Van A. Dukeman, Main Street's president and chief executive, said buying Citizens would continue his company's downstate expansion.
The $327 million-asset Citizens First operates five branches in Bloomington, Normal, and Fairbury, all of which would be new markets for the $1.2 billion-asset Main Street. The buyer said the deal is expected to close in the second quarter and that the acquisition would be accretive to earnings in the first full calendar year after the closing date.
Main Street, the $1.2 billion-asset holding company for BankIllinois in Champaign and First National Bank of Decatur, announced in August that it planned to consolidate all its banking operations in a subsidiary to be called Main Street Bank and Trust.
