Southern Bancorp to buy Hamburg lender Farmers Bank for $4.5 million.

Arkadelphia-based Southern Bancorp Inc. has a deal in place to acquire south Arkansas lender Farmers Bank of Hamburg.

The terms of the deal, announced in a news release Wednesday (Jan. 25) from Southern Bancorp CEO Darrin Williams, call for Southern Bancorp to acquire Farmers Bank for about $4.5 million, paid in cash and common stock.

Farmers Bank, which has about a dozen employees, had assets of $41.1 million as of Sept. 30, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). The bank lost $73,000 through the first nine months of 2016, according to the FDIC, and reported a $64,000 loss in 2015.

“The Hamburg community fits well into the Southern Bancorp target market,” Williams said. “We look forward to bringing our unique brand of banking to the area, which combines traditional banking products and services with financial development offerings such as financial education, credit and homebuyer counseling, and free tax preparation among others.”

Southern Bancorp is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and holding company for Southern Bancorp Bank. It has $1.2 billion in assets and 44 locations in Arkansas and Mississippi. This will be its first office in Ashley County.

Bruce Timmons, a Hamburg resident with 43 years of banking experience currently serves as Southern Bancorp’s market president for its Eudora branch in neighboring Chicot County. He will assume responsibility for the Hamburg office. Farmers Bank president Kenny Allbritton will stay on in a leadership capacity following the merger, according to the release.

“Our shareholders are excited to join the Southern Bancorp family, not only because of what it will mean for our customers in terms of new products and services, but also because of Southern Bancorp’s mission focus, which will be a great asset to our community,” Farmers Bank chairman Jack Shell said in a statement.