First Merchants To Acquire Ameriana Bancorp

(RTTNews) - First Merchants Corp. (FRME) and Ameriana Bancorp (ASBI) said Monday they have executed a definitive agreement whereby Ameriana Bancorp will merge with and into First Merchants Corporation, and its wholly owned bank subsidiary, Ameriana Bank, will merge with and into First Merchants Bank, NA.

The merger agreement provides that shareholders of Ameriana Bancorp will have the right to exchange each Ameriana Bancorp common share held for 0.9037 shares of First Merchants' common stock. Based on the closing price of First Merchants' common stock on June 26 of $25.13, the deal value is about $68.8 million, with an implied price per share of Ameriana Bancorp common stock of $22.71.

The deal is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2015. The combined financial institutions, which will do business as First Merchants Bank, expect to complete the integration during the second quarter of 2016.

Ameriana Bancorp had assets of about $483 million, loans of $325 million and deposits of $391 million as of March 31, 2015. Based upon current financials, First Merchants and Ameriana Bancorp will have combined assets of $6.4 billion and will remain the second largest financial holding company headquartered in Indiana. The combined company will have 126 banking offices in twenty-seven Indiana counties, as well as two counties in both Ohio and Illinois.