BancPlus in Ridgeland, Mississippi, has agreed to buy First Trust in New Orleans.
The deal would nearly triple the size of BancPlus’s branch network in the New Orleans metropolitan area. BancPlus has four branches there, and FirstTrust has seven.
“We are committed to this region, and we believe that combining two like-minded, community-focused banks will benefit our stakeholders and the region that we serve,” Bill Ray, president and CEO of BancPlus, said in a news release Wednesday announcing the deal.
The $5.1 billion-asset BancPlus did not disclose a total deal price but said it would pay a mix of cash and stock for First Trust. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter.
As of June 30, First Trust had $1.3 billion of assets, $1.2 billion of deposits and $1.1 billion of loans. The combined company would have about $6.4 billion of assets, $5.7 billion of deposits and loans of $4.5 billion.
BancPlus has 79 branches throughout Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.
