WesBanco in Wheeling, W.Va., has agreed to buy Farmers Capital Bank in Frankfort, Ky.
The $10.2 billion-asset WesBanco said in a press release Thursday that it will pay $378.2 million for the $1.7 billion-asset Farmers. The deal, which is expected to close in the second half of this year, prices Farmers at 195% of its tangible book value.
The acquisition “significantly expands” WesBanco’s operations in Kentucky and bridges a gap between markets in Louisville, Ky., and Huntington, W.Va., Todd Clossin, WesBanco’s president and CEO, said in the release.
Farmers has 34 branches, $1 billion of loans, $1.4 billion of deposits and $560 million of trust assets.
The acquisition would also give WesBanco its first branches in Frankfort.
Excluding $22.3 million in merger-related charges, the deal is expected to be about 3% accretive to WesBanco’s 2019 earnings and 5% accretive the next year. It should take a little more than two years to earn back the projected 2.1% dilution to WesBanco’s tangible book value.
WesBanco said it expects to cut Farmers’ annual noninterest expense by about 35%.
One Farmers director will join WesBanco’s board. Lloyd Hillard Jr., Farmers’ president and CEO, will become WesBanco’s as chairman for the central and southern Kentucky market advisory board.
Raymond James, Phillips Gardill Kaiser & Altmeyer and K&L Gates advised WesBanco. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and Squire Patton Boggs advised Farmers.
