Bank For Sale?

The banking community has been abuzz for weeks speculating that The Bank of Fayetteville N.A. is either up for sale or at least primed for an acquisition. The talk has been so feverish, Business Journal staffers have had to fend off questions about what they know.

Many say the shareholders of BOF are ready for a payout and might be ready to flip their stock. It’s been so estimated the bank could sell for 2.5 times its book value in Northwest Arkansas’ super-hot banking market.

We certainly don’t want to ruin a potential deal or cause a panicked break for the door at any bank, so we thought it might be time to set the record with what we know.

The two most commonly mentioned buyers are start-up stalwart Signature Bank of Arkansas and First Security Bank, based in Searcy. Speculators say either buyer makes sense.

Gary Head, chairman of Signature, and Mary Beth Brooks, president and CEO of BOF, worked together at Arvest Bank-Fayetteville and have worked together on some deals through their new banks. But Head said that’s where it ends.

Head said the two share credit philosophies and they’ll do more deals together. But when pressed about offers he’s made for BOF, Head said, “No, not me.”

And another time, he said, “The Bank of Fayetteville is not for sale.”

Another camp says an offer by First Security makes more sense. The bank said in the past it would grow through acquisitions, and there’s also a family connection. Sort of.

Reynie Rutledge, chairman and CEO of First Security Bancorp, is brother-in-law to Fayetteville real estate mogul Jim Lindsey. The chairman of The Lindsey Cos. is apparently tighter than twin fiddles with David McClinton, former president of APAC-Arkansas/McClinton Anchor and new chairman of, you guessed it, The Bank of Fayetteville.

Both Jim Taylor, president of FSB’s northwest division, and Rutledge said the bank is in acquisition mode. Both declined to comment about an offer or a bid on Fayetteville’s flagship community bank.

Brooks said another bank has at least recently shown interest in BOF. It sounds like an offer to “partner” has been extended, though she declined to give details.

She made it sound akin to a young man’s shy smile and a wink at a pretty lady he’d like to take to dinner.

“Nothing formal has happened,” she said. “The board says the timing is not right.”

For the time being the bank is staying on its track, Brooks said, and she’s eager to put her employees’ minds at rest. That’s why she and other bank officers have tried not to talk about all the hoopla.