Heartland Financial USA, Inc. Announces Plan to Acquire AIM Bancshares, Inc. in Texas - Seite 2

Scott L. Wade, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AimBank will join FB&T as Vice Chairman of the Board and President of FB&T’s South Division, “We are delighted to reach this agreement with Heartland and look forward to joining such a high-quality organization. The combination of AimBank with the Heartland family of community banks significantly increases our lending capabilities and gives us access to products and services offered by larger banks while preserving our legacy as a locally-led community bank. This is a great opportunity for our customers, who will enjoy a broader selection of banking products and will continue to deal directly with our current staff.”

“We at FirstBank & Trust are extremely excited about the opportunity to join forces with AimBank,” added Barry H. Orr, Chairman Chief Executive Officer of FB&T.  “We have immense respect for Scott Wade and his team of talented bankers. We extend a warm welcome to the AimBank customers and employees to our organization. The leadership teams of our two institutions will be integrally working together to preserve our commitment to a quality customer experience. We are very fortunate to be joining two talented teams of local commercial banking professionals and staff with an excellent knowledge of the communities and the clients they serve.”

Under the terms of the merger agreement, which has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of Heartland and ABI, ABI common shareholders at the closing will receive 207.0 shares of Heartland common stock (approximately 5,083,000 Heartland shares in the aggregate) and $685.00 in cash for each share of ABI common stock, subject to certain adjustments as set forth in the definitive merger agreement.  ABI option holders will receive cash for the in-the-money portion of ABI stock options. The transaction is subject to approval by federal and state bank regulators and the ABI shareholders and to customary closing conditions.  The transaction is expected to close early in the third quarter of 2020 with a systems conversion planned for the fourth quarter of 2020.

Heartland and ABI anticipate that the transaction will qualify as a tax-free exchange with respect to the stock consideration received by ABI’s shareholders.  Heartland expects the transaction to be accretive to its earnings per share within the first year of combined operations.  Further information regarding the financial impact of the transaction can be found in the investor presentation filed as an exhibit to Heartland’s Current Report on Form 8-K dated February 11, 2020 or in the investor relations section of Heartland’s website.