Wintrust Financial, a financial holding company with assets of around $31bn, has agreed to acquire Rush-Oak Corporation (ROC), the parent company of Oak Bank, for about $46m.
Image: Oak Bank to be acquired by Wintrust Financial. Photo: courtesy of rawpixel/Unsplash.com.
Established in 1970, Oak Bank operates a banking location in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, which caters to individuals, restaurants, retail stores, building contractors, real estate investors, and other personal and business accounts.
The Gold Coast bank had assets worth around $196m, about $143m in loans and close to $158m in deposits, as of 31 December 2018.
Wintrust president and CEO Edward Wehmer said: “This transaction is a great opportunity to expand our market presence in the heart of the City of Chicago. Oak Bank has a wonderful reputation for providing outstanding customer service using a community banking approach.
“We look forward to continuing that tradition and to providing its customers with an expanded array of products, services and resources.”
As per the terms of the deal, shares of ROC common stock outstanding at the time of the merger will be converted into the right to be issued per share merger consideration to be paid in cash.
In addition, before the closing of the deal, the shares of Oak Bank owned directly by individual minority shareholders will be redeemed for cash by ROC for an aggregate redemption value of around $9m so that the chartered bank becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of ROC.
The transaction will be subject to approval from banking regulators, approval of ROC’s stockholders along with meeting some other closing conditions, upon which, it is likely to be completed in the second quarter of this year.
Oak Bank president Roy Curran said: “The transaction allows us to continue focusing on serving our customers as we have for nearly 50 years, while at the same time providing our customers with access to a wider range of products and services.
“We see many benefits for our customers and stockholders, and we look forward to joining the Wintrust family.”
Wintrust Financial, which is based in Illinois, operates fifteen community bank subsidiaries with more than 160 banking locations across the greater Chicago and southern Wisconsin market areas.
Last month, the financial holding company acquired the Milwaukee, Wisconsin branch of PyraMax Bank through its subsidiary Town Bank.