National City Corp. of Cleveland is expected to announce today an agreement to acquire the $500 million-asset Forbes First Financial Corp. of St. Louis.
The privately held Forbes First is the parent of Pioneer Bank and Trust Co., which has 11 branches.
After the deal, which is to close in the second quarter, National City would have 48 branches in the St. Louis. The $151.7 billion-asset company entered St. Louis last year by buying Allegiant Bancorp.
Buying Forbes First "is very consistent with what we wanted to do," said David Daberko, National City's chairman and chief executive, in an interview. "We would look at other in-market acquisitions."
His company did not say what it would pay for Forbes First.
