CrossFirst Bankshares in Leawood, Kansas, agreed to acquire Canyon Bancorp. in Tucson, Arizona, in a bid to expand its bread-and-butter small business lending operation.
The $15.1 million cash-and-stock deal would extend the $6.9 billion-asset CrossFirst's Arizona footprint from Phoenix to Tucson, the state's first- and second-most populated markets, respectively. The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2023, CrossFirst said in a press release Friday.
Canyon is the parent of the $198 million-asset Canyon Community Bank, which has one branch, $122 million of loans and $169 million of deposits. The combination would bring together complementary banking platforms focused on small business lending, CrossFirst said.
"This transaction represents a natural extension of our growth opportunity in Arizona by providing a strategic presence in Tucson with a strong core deposit base and liquidity position, while also supplementing our existing presence in the metro Phoenix market,"
Bo Hughes, Canyon's president and CEO, said the merged bank would have greater scale and resources.
"We will continue to serve our clients in our local community and be able to offer enhanced technologies, products and services," he said in the release.
CrossFirst was advised by Raymond James and Stinson. Canyon was advised by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and Hunton Andrews Kurth.
Last year CrossFirst closed its
"There are other markets we're interested in, several in Texas. We're going to continue to be opportunistic," he said at the time.
In addition to Texas, Kansas and Arizona, CrossFirst currently operates in Colorado, Missouri and New Mexico.
