Midwest shopping spree continues for Equity in Kansas

Equity Bancshares in Wichita, Kan., has agreed to buy City Bank and Trust in Guymon, Okla.

The $3.6 billion-asset Equity said in a press release Tuesday that it will buy the $173 million-asset City Bank from Docking Bancshares in Arkansas City, Kan., for $18.9 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

City Bank, founded as Beaver County Bank in 1901, has $77 million in loans and $139 million in deposits in southwest Kansas. It was sold to Docking in 2002.

Equity entered southwest Kansas in early May when it bought Kansas Bank. It also expanded into Oklahoma last year when it bought Cache Holdings and Eastman National Bancshares.

Equity has completed 17 acquisitions since 2003, including eight since its November 2015 initial public offering.

“Adding diverse community bank markets … with strong local ties remains a core component of our strategy,” Brad Elliott, Equity’s chairman and CEO, said in the release. City Bank “fits our footprint nicely, as an additional location for our southwest Kansas market, and this transaction will provide additional resources for our Oklahoma customers.”

Equity said it expects the merger to be about 14 cents accretive to its 2019 diluted earnings per share and 17 cents accretive the next year. The company expects to incur $2.2 million in merger-related expenses.

It should take Equity less than three years to earn back the expected 2.8% dilution to its tangible book value.

Equity was advised by Sandler O’Neill and Norton Rose Fulbright. Docking was advised by Capital Corporation and Stinson Leonard Street.

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