To bolster its capital, United Community Financial Corp. of Youngstown, Ohio, said Thursday that it plans to sell the trust company of its Butler Wick Corp. to Farmers National Banc Corp. of Canfield.
Farmers would pay $12.1 million in cash for Butler Wick Trust Co.
This is the second Butler Wick Corp. unit United has opted to sell in recent weeks. Last week the $2.7 billion-asset company announced it had completed a deal to sell Butler Wick & Co. Inc., a securities unit, to Stifel Financial Corp. in St. Louis for $12 million. When that deal was announced, United said it expected to retain ownership of the trust company.
The deal with Farmers is "another step forward in the execution of our plan to build capital, reduce debt, and sharpen our focus on our core banking business," Douglas M. McKay, United's chief executive, said Thursday in a press release. "The combination of the two transactions will provide over $24 million in gross proceeds."
After the deal closes, the trust company is expected to be renamed Farmers National Trust Co. In a press release, John S. Gulas, the chief operating officer of $872 million-asset Farmers National Banc Corp., said, the deal will "bring us the opportunity to offer trust services, thereby complementing our core retail banking and asset management franchises."
