BancorpSouth Insurance Services, Inc., Acquires Joe Max Green/Insurance Concepts of Nacogdoches

TUPELO, Miss. -- BancorpSouth Insurance Services, Inc., a subsidiary of BancorpSouth Bank, headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi, announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Nacogdoches, Texas -- based JMG/IC Insurance Agency, Inc. The effective date of the transaction will be January 1, 2008. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. BancorpSouth Chairman and CEO Aubrey Patterson said, "This acquisition provides a strong addition to our growing Texas franchise. It provides us with the opportunity to continue expanding our successful insurance brokerage business with a highly regarded insurance agency; JMG/IC joins our growing insurance network as a major foundation agency. We will continue to look for opportunities to grow BancorpSouth Insurance Services' business, providing expanded financial services to our clients while developing opportunities to generate additional non-interest income for our company." Joe Max Green, Chairman of JMG/IC Insurance Agency, Inc. said, "This new partnership will enable us to continue bringing new resources to our clients, while complementing our agency's growth and development as we work and share all of the unique talents and skills within BancorpSouth's agency network." Gary LaFour, agency president, added, "We are extremely excited about the potential synergies this combination will provide in order to better serve our clients as well as helping our agency remain a competitive force in an ever- changing industry." JMG/IC was founded in 1962 in Nacogdoches, Texas where the agency maintains its corporate office. With written premiums in excess of $100 million, JMG/IC ranks among the nation's largest insurance agencies. The agency, which has experienced sustained growth through both new business production and acquisitions of other agencies, operates affiliated branches and divisions in Itasca, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, and in Houston, Livingston, Tyler, Henderson and Athens, Texas. The agency's major lines of business include, commercial, group, personal, surety, life and health insurance products. BancorpSouth Insurance Services President Markham McKnight said, "The pending JMG/IC acquisition and the continued expansion of our insurance network will give us additional influence in the industry, while at the same time offer access to new and attractive markets. Nacogdoches and the other East Texas locations are excellent markets. We are also excited to have the opportunity to expand into the metropolitan areas of Houston and Chicago. We have the utmost respect for JMG/IC and we feel that its client base is very compatible with ours." Together with BancorpSouth's Louisiana insurance division, Wright & Percy; its Arkansas insurance division, Ramsey, Krug, Farrell and Lensing; and its Mississippi insurance division, Stewart Sneed Hewes, BancorpSouth Insurance Services, Inc., was ranked 38th among the top insurance brokerage firms in America by Business Insurance: 100 Largest Brokers of U.S. Business, July 2007. At September 30, 2007, BancorpSouth Bank, parent company of BancorpSouth Insurance Services, Inc., ranked sixth nationally among banks in insurance brokerage fee income according to the Michael White/Symetra Bank Fee Income Report 2007. BancorpSouth Bank is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BancorpSouth, Inc. (NYSE: BXS - News), a financial services company with approximately $13.2 billion in assets headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi. BancorpSouth Bank operates approximately 290 commercial banking, mortgage, insurance, trust and broker/dealer locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas.