Horizon Bancorp to Acquire Bank in Central Indiana

Horizon Bancorp in Michigan City, Ind., has agreed to buy Heartland Bancshares Inc. of Franklin, Ind., in an all-stock deal valued at $14 million.

Under the deal expected to close in the second quarter, the $1.6 billion-asset Horizon will issue 0.54 shares of common stock for each share of Heartland common stock. Based on the closing price of Horizon's common stock on Wednesday of $18, the value of the transaction was roughly $9.72 per share for Heartland's more than 1.4 million outstanding shares.

Horizon has also agreed to redeem all of Heartland's outstanding preferred shares held by the Treasury Department under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, according to a news release Friday.

Heartland will be merged into Horizon and the banks will operate under one charter. However, the bank will be called Heartland Community Bank, a Horizon Company, in central Indiana.

Heartland's co-founders, president and chief executive, Steve Bechman, and executive vice president, Jeffrey Goben, will continue to manage operations in central Indiana. One member from Heartland's board will be added to Horizon's board and a local advisory board will be established.

The $246 million-asset Heartland is No. 1 in deposit market share in Johnson County in Indiana with $217.9 million in deposits and $137.7 million in loans.

Horizon currently has 21 branches in northern Indiana and southwest Michigan. Heartland has six branches in Johnson County.

There has been a string of deals in Indiana in recent weeks. In late January, the banking unit of U.S. Bancorp agreed to buy the Indiana corporate trust business of UMB Bank N.A. Old National Bancorp in Evansville, Ind., also said in late January that it had struck a deal to buy Indiana Community Bancorp in Columbus Ind. And First Savings Financial Group Inc. in Clarksville, Ind., said Thursday that it would buy four branches in Indiana from First Financial Service Corp. of Elizabethtown, Ky.