The owners of Frontenac Bank in Earth City, Mo., have been in talks to sell Frontenac to the Milwaukee banking company Marshall & Ilsley Corp., according to a published report.
But discussions have stalled because the owners' asking price is too high, said the report, in this week's St. Louis Business Journal.
The Journal said Frontenac officials did not return its phone calls.
The article said the owners want three times the bank's book value, which was about $24 million at midyear, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. According to Sword Associates in Kansas City, Mo., Midwest banks with assets of $150 million to $500 million sold for an average 1.89 times book during a 12-month period that ended in March.
Frontenac was founded in January 1999 and has three branches. Its first-half earnings rose 42%, to $1.08 million.
Marshall & Ilsley, which has assets of $39 billion, entered St. Louis in 2002 by acquiring the $2 billion-asset Mississippi Valley Bancshares Inc., the parent of Southwest Bank of St. Louis, for $507 million.
