Trustmark Buying Tenn. Firm Wooed by Union Planters

After 111 years of operating exclusively in its own state, Trustmark Corp. of Jackson, Miss., said Wednesday that it is expanding into Tennessee by acquiring Barret Bancorp in Barretville for $102.5 million.

The announcement of the deal came less than four months after Union Planters Corp. of Memphis said it had signed a letter of intent to buy $516 million-asset Barret. But in an interview, Barret president Charles M. Ennis called Union Planters’ announcement “premature” and said that no definitive agreement was ever reached.