Mercantile Bancorp, Inc. said Thursday that it had reached a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held HNB Financial Services, Inc., based in Hannibal, Missouri, in an all cash transaction valued at $30.2 million. HNB Financial is the parent of HNB Bank, which had $161.4 million in assets as of December 31, 2006 and has five full-service banking locations in eastern Missouri. “HNB Financial Services is an excellent addition to our affiliation of banks, both operationally and strategically,” said Dan S. Dugan, Mercantile chairman, president and chief executive officer.
“Operationally, HNB is located in close proximity to our Quincy headquarters. They are the long-standing leading bank franchise in Hannibal, have a significant market share in the communities they serve and a philosophy very similar to ours. The Quincy and Hannibal economies must continue cooperative efforts toward collective successes for our region, and we believe strategically aligning the two leading commercial banks in the markets will positively impact those efforts.” Dugan noted that Mercantile plans to combine one of its existing Missouri-chartered banks, Perry State Bank, with HNB Bank and to continue to use the HNB Bank name for the combined bank, subject to regulatory approvals. Perry State Bank operates today as a $151 million bank in the communities of Perry, Monroe City, Bowling Green, and Hannibal. When complete, the combination of the two banks would add the communities of Palmyra, Troy and Wentzville as locations served by the Company and result in a single bank franchise with assets estimated in excess of $312 million. HNB’s loan portfolio at December 31, 2006 totaled $115.0 million, including well-diversified residential mortgages, agricultural loans, and a growing commercial and commercial real estate loan component. Deposits at December 31, 2006 were $132.1 million. HNB currently serves approximately 13,000 depositors. For more information, visit http://www.mercbanx.com.
