Business First Bancshares, Inc. Completes Acquisition of Texas Citizens Bancorp, Inc. and Expands Business Banking Services to Houston Market
BATON ROUGE, La., March 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Business First Bancshares, Inc. (Business First) (Nasdaq: BFST), the holding company of b1BANK, has completed its acquisition of Texas Citizens Bancorp, Inc. (Texas Citizens ) and its wholly owned banking subsidiary, Texas Citizens Bank, National Association. The acquisition became effective March 1, 2022, in accordance with the terms of the previously announced agreement.
“This partnership in the Houston area is an important step in expanding our footprint across Texas,” said Jude Melville, President and CEO of b1BANK. “We have had great success with our boutique-style business banking services in the Dallas market, as have Texas Citizens in the Houston market, and we look forward to combining our efforts and expertise in serving the many small and medium-sized enterprises in the region. .”
Upon closing of the acquisition, b1BANK has approximately $5.3 billion in assets, $3.6 billion in loans and $4.6 billion in deposits. With the addition of the six Texas Citizens banking locations in the Houston market, b1BANK will have 48 full-service banking centers and three loan origination offices in Louisiana and in the Dallas and Houston markets. Duncan Stewart, president and CEO of Texas Citizens, will join b1BANK as president of the Houston region. Texas Citizens President Mike Cornett will also join the b1BANK team as Vice President, Houston. Current b1BANK Executive Vice President, Director of Market Expansion, Don Hingle, will relocate to Houston as Houston Regional President.
Stephens Inc., acted as financial advisor to Business First, and Fenimore Kay Harrison LLP acted as legal advisor to Business First. Piper Sandler Companies acted as financial advisor to the Citizens of Texas and Bracewell LLP acted as legal advisor to the Citizens of Texas.
About Buifness First Bancshares, Inc.
Business First Bancshares, Inc., (Nasdaq: BFST) through its banking subsidiary b1BANK and after giving effect to the acquisition of Texas Citizens Bancorp, Inc., has approximately $5.3 billion in assets, $6.1 billion in assets under management through b1BANK subsidiary Smith Shellnut Wilson, LLC (SSW) (excludes $1.0 billion in b1BANK assets managed by SSW) and operates banking centers and production offices of loans in the Louisiana markets and in the Dallas and Houston, Texas markets, providing commercial and personal banking products and services. Commercial banking services include commercial loans and letters of credit, working capital lines and equipment financing, and cash management services. b1BANK was voted the best bank in the state of Louisiana by Forbes and Statista, and has received the award three times Baton Rouge Activity Report‘s “Best Workplaces in Baton Rouge.” To visit b1BANK.com for more information.
Special note regarding forward-looking statements
Certain statements in this release may not be based on historical facts and are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act. of 1934, as amended. . These forward-looking statements can be identified by their reference to one or more future periods or by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “may”, ” could “. ,” “will”, “do”, “could” or “intend”. We caution you not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, as actual results could differ materially. of those in these forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including factors specified in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and other public filings. Actual results will also be materially impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. 19 ongoing, including, among other effects: the impact of the public health crisis; the extent and duration of business closures, including our branches, suppliers and customers; the functioning of financial markets; employment levels; market liquidity; the impact of various measures taken in response by the US federal government, the Federal Reserve, other banking regulators, state and local governments ; the adequacy of our allowance for loan losses relative to potential losses in our loan portfolio; and the impact all of these factors have on our borrowers, other customers, suppliers and counterparties. We undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date of this press release.
Further information
For more information about Business First, you can obtain Business First’s reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) free of charge by using the SEC’s EDGAR service on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov or by contacting the SEC for more information at 1-800-SEC-0330. Alternatively, these documents may be obtained free of charge from Business First by sending a request to: Business First Bancshares, Inc., 500 Laurel Street, Suite 100, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70801, Attention: Corporate Secretary.
###
CONTACT: Misty Albrecht b1BANK 225.286.7879 Misty.Albrecht@b1BANK.com
Comments are closed.