Five years after it left Texas, Marquette Financial Cos. in Minneapolis has moved to reenter the state, with a deal for a Corpus Christi bank charter.
The $2 billion-asset Marquette is to buy the charter of $118 million-asset First Commerce, which is selling itself to the $195 million-asset Kleberg First National Bank in Kingsville, Tex.
Jim Truck, First Commerce's president and chief executive officer, said the deal with Kleberg is expected to close in January and that Marquette would then acquire First Commerce's charter.
News of Marquette's deal to reenter Texas was first reported Friday in the Pioneer Press of St. Paul. A Marquette spokeswoman said the company would have no comment until today.
The Minnesota company left Texas in October 2001 after selling the bulk of its banking operations in several states, about $5.6 billion of assets, to Wells Fargo & Co. Marquette's lone bank subsidiary is Meridian Bank in Wickenburg, Ariz.
