Paying $111M in Cash, A Chicago-Area Bank Buys Neighbor Calumet

A family-owned Chicago-area banking company said it has a deal to buy Calumet Bancorp of Dolton, Ill., for $111.6 million in cash.

FBOP Corp., a $3.3 billion-asset privately held company based in Oak Park, Ill., agreed to pay $36 per share. The deal, expected to close in the first quarter, is valued at 1.15 times Calumet's book value and 16.3 times estimated earnings per share for 1998.

The acquisition of $492 million-asset Calumet would be FBOP's first since it closed two cash deals in southern California in 1995. Since then, FBOP's cash offers had been shunned, because stock seemed more attractive in a soaring market, a spokeswoman said.

With recent market gyrations punishing the share prices of FBOP's peers by up to 40%, FBOP is finding deals easier to come by, however. The spokeswoman, who asked not to be identified, said the company hopes to buy more small banks for cash soon.

John Garlanger, Calumet's chief financial officer, said the company has struggled to expand its local loan portfolio because its branches are in communities with little growth.

He said these circumstances, coupled with increasing pressure on interest rate spreads and few opportunities to expand through acquisition, convinced Calumet's board that it was time to sell.

Stephen Skiba, bank analyst with ABN Amro Inc. in Chicago, said the Calumet deal gives FBOP a chance to grow at a low price.

"They see a source of cheap deposits and an easy way to expand their footprint," he said.

With the purchase of Calumet, FBOP's subsidiary, Regency Savings Bank of Naperville, would expand its branch network east into the suburbs and two neighborhoods in southeastern Chicago.

Mr. Skiba said Calumet's locations in working-class communities may have deterred some prospective buyers and meant a lower price for the company. Another strike against Calumet was its unusual loan portfolio, which includes many mortgages on out-of-state vacation properties in Western ski resorts.

But the FBOP spokeswoman said her company views loan growth prospects in Calumet's five offices as strong. She also said FBOP has no plans to discontinue Calumet's out-of-state lending practices.

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