Meta Financial Group Inc. in Storm Lake, Iowa, has agreed to sell its smallest subsidiary, the $39 million-asset MetBank West Central, to Anita Bancorp. in Atlantic, Iowa, for $8.3 million in stock.
In announcing the deal late Thursday, the $689 million-asset Meta Financial said it also intends to deregister as a bank holding company and would become a unitary savings and loan holding company. Its other subsidiary, MetaBank, has $650 million of assets and 13 branches in Iowa and South Dakota.
Anita is a two-bank holding company with $131 million of assets and eight branches in Iowa and Minnesota, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data.
Meta said that the deal is expected to close by March 30 and that its transition to a unitary thrift holding company would be completed at that time or shortly thereafter.
