NBT Bancorp Inc. of Norwich, N.Y., is expanding into western Massachusetts with a deal to purchase four branches from Legacy Bancorp of Pittsfield, Mass.
Legacy is being a acquired by longtime rival Berkshire Hills Bancorp and had been ordered by the Justice Department to sell the branches as a condition of the merger. The four branches, with roughly $158 million of deposits, are in Great Barrington, Lee, Pittsfield and North Adams.
The $5.5 billion-asset NBT, which has 123 branches in New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont, said it would pay a 6% deposit premium for the branches, the deposits and roughly $45 million of loans. The sale is expected to close by the by Oct. 31.
