First Place Financial Corp. of Warren, Ohio has a deal to buy Hicksville Building and Loan Savings Bank, a small mutual savings bank near the Indiana border.
The $3.3 billion-asset First Place said last week that it would buy the $54 million-asset HBLS Bank.
After HBLS converts to a federally chartered stock savings association, First Place would acquire all of its stock in exchange for assuming its liabilities and injecting an undisclosed amount of capital into the bank.
The deal is expected to close next quarter. HBLS would be merged into First Place Bank.
In a news release Thursday, HBLS Bank chief executive Jamie Shinabarger said, "In considering strategic alternatives, our board of directors placed a great deal of value on the First Place culture and successful track record."
Last year First Place bought the $341 million-asset Northern Savings and Loan Co. in Elyria for $71.5 million and seven branches in Michigan from Republic Bancorp Inc. in Ann Arbor, which had sold them as a condition of its merger with Citizens Banking Corp. in Flint. Mich.
