First Financial Eyes Cornerstone Bank
by March 27, 2006 12:00 am 96 views
Heard about an Arkansas lender expanding its presence in the Magnolia State?
First Financial Bank of El Dorado is working to buy Cornerstone Bank of Senatobia, Miss., in a near $8 million transaction.
Some may remember that First Financial Bank sold six Northwest Arkansas locations in 2000 to Simmons First Bank of Northwest Arkansas.
FFB still operates a loan production office on Millsap Road in Fayetteville, which makes agriculture loans to folks here, in southwest Missouri and eastern Oklahoma.
The Fayetteville office of FFB closed about $25 million in Small Business Administration, Farm Service Agency and direct loans in 2002 alone.
Cornerstone is a $46 million-asset concern with a second location in nearby Hernando, Miss., south of Memphis. It was organized in 1999 and has around 400 local investors.
Cornerstone reported a $377,000 loss during 2005, which followed a $176,000 loss in 2004.
FFB reported a $9 million profit in 2005 and total assets of more than $493 million.
First Financial Bank has an agri lending office in Carthage, Miss., as well as five other out-of-state locations: Nacogdoches, Texas; Elizabethtown, Ky.; Enterprise, Ala.; Gainesville, Ga.; and Neosho, Mo.
The deal is expected to close by May or June.