Alerus Financial Corp. in Grand Forks, North Dakota, is buying Metro Phoenix Bank in Arizona for $85.3 million.
The $3.2 billion-asset Alerus said the acquisition would significantly expand its presence in Phoenix, the country’s fifth-most populous city.
Metro Phoenix Bank, with one branch in Arizona’s largest market, has $411 million of assets, $283 million of loans and $366 million of deposits, the companies said in a press release announcing the deal after markets closed Wednesday.
Should the transaction close as planned in the first quarter of 2022, the combined company's Arizona operation would have three branches, about $440 million of loans and more than $480 million of deposits. Alerus first entered the market in 2009.
Alerus also has operations in Minnesota and Michigan.
The seller focuses on lending to small and midsize businesses. Alerus said it expects to expand commercial lending while also selling mortgage, wealth management and other services to business owners in the market.
Greater Phoenix “is one of the largest and fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country,” Alerus Chief Financial Officer Katie Lorenson said in the press release. “By combining our existing market presence and diverse product offerings with the commercial banking experience and talented professionals of Metro Phoenix Bank, we grow our commercial client base, which provides an opportunity to expand those relationships by serving the business, the owners, and their employees.”
Lorenson will succeed Randy Newman as Alerus’s president and CEO at the start of 2022.
Metro Phoenix Bank President and CEO Steve Haggard will become president of Alerus’s Arizona market. “Our clients will benefit from the broader product set and greater resources to support our continued growth initiatives,” he said in the release.
Alerus said the acquisition would be immediately accretive to its earnings per share, excluding one-time transaction costs.
