In Brief: MAF Paying $84M For Westco of Illinois

MAF Bancorp, Clarendon Hills, Ill., said Monday that it has a deal to buy Westco Bancorp for $84 million in stock. The deal is valued at 1.63 times book.

Westco, of Westchester, Ill., is the parent of First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Westchester, a $320 million-asset thrift with one office in suburban Chicago.

The deal calls for First Federal to become a branch of MAF's Mid America Bank, a $3.6 billion-asset thrift with 23 branches in the area.

Allen H. Koranda, chairman and chief executive officer of MAF, said the in-market deal would make his institution the largest in Westchester.

"It is a solid, middle-class market with an older population base, a good market for a savings institution," he said. The deal is expected to close around the end of the year.

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