NB&T Financial Group Inc. in Wilmington, Ohio, is restructuring its balance sheet, selling a branch and exiting the indirect auto loan business.
The $633 million-asset company said Wednesday that it would sell $48 million of securities and use the proceeds to pay off higher-rate borrowings and close its deal to sell its Ada, Ohio, branch to Liberty National Bank in Ada.
The securities sale would result in an after-tax charge of about $1 million for the third quarter but should improve the net interest margin by 40 basis points, NB&T said.
Liberty would pay a premium of about $1.6 million for the branch's $20.5 million of deposits, plus the book value of its loans and the value of the property. Liberty is also buying a vacant branch building from NB&T, in Waynesfield, for $80,000.
NB&T said that it would stop making indirect auto loans Aug. 1, because it could not generate enough profits from the highly competitive business. The company will let its $57 million portfolio of such loans run off over a period of about three years.
