Ironhorse in Okla. to Buy Benefit Financial in Ark.

Ironhorse Financial Group in Muskogee, Okla., has agreed to acquire Benefit Financial Group in Fort Smith, Ark.

The purchase price was not disclosed. The all-stock deal would allow Ironhorse to expand into Arkansas, where the $187 million-asset Benefit operates five branches along the state's western border with Oklahoma.

Ironhorse, which has $1.1 billion in assets, is the parent company of Armstrong Bank in Muskogee and Republic Bank & Trust in Norman, Okla.

"We have a strong retail franchise of branch offices just across the state line so this presents a great expansionary opportunity for us," Sinclair Armstrong, the chairman of Armstrong Bank, said in a press release Monday.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year.

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Community banking M&A Oklahoma
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