First Financial Eyes Cornerstone Bank

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.