Banner Corp. of Walla Walla, Washington, will purchase its in-state peer Pacific Financial Corp. in a $177 million all-stock transaction, the banks said Thursday.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter and will result in a combined entity with $18 billion in assets.
Pacific Financial’s Bank of the Pacific has 18 branches and offices across Washington and Oregon and $1.29 billion in assets, including a $762 million loan portfolio and $1.14 billion in deposits.
Bank of the Pacific CEO Denise Portmann will join Banner Bank’s executive team following the merger. Banner Bank has locations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California and, as of March, has $16.34 billion in assets.
“This transaction expands our presence and density in attractive Western Washington and Western Oregon markets while offering Bank of the Pacific customers broader product offerings and technology tools, increased commercial lending limits and an expanded branch delivery system,” said Banner CEO Mark Grescovich in a prepared statement. “We look forward to Denise joining our executive team and are pleased to welcome their employees, customers and shareholders to Banner.”
Portmann called merging into Banner “an exciting next chapter, creating tremendous opportunities for our employees, customers and shareholders.”
According to the agreement, Pacific Financial shareholders will receive 0.2633 shares of Banner common stock in exchange for each share of Pacific Financial common stock. Based on Banner stock’s closing price of $66.25 per share on April 29, the consideration to Pacific Financial shareholders equals $17.44 per share.
Banner expects the transaction to be “immediately accretive” to 2027 earnings per share.
The transaction remains subject to approval by Pacific Financial shareholders, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. The boards of both Banner and Pacific Financial each unanimously approved the merger.
