Two independent Colorado banks announced agreements Thursday to sell to larger regional competitors.
Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp will acquire Avon-based Vail Banks Inc., the parent of WestStar, for $98.6 million in cash, the two companies announced Thursday.
And UMB Financial Corp., based in Kansas City, Mo., will acquire privately held Mountain States Bancorp. for $83 million in cash.
U.S. Bank offered $17 a share in cash to shareholders of Vail Banks, a 6.9 percent premium to the company’s closing stock price Wednesday.
The acquisition will provide U.S. Bank with two dozen additional locations, four in the metro area and 20 across the Western Slope, an area where the bank has sought a stronger presence.
“It expands our footprint into some markets we need to be in,” said Rick Harnack, a vice chairman with U.S. Bank.
U.S. Bank plans to bring more of its consumer and small-business-focused products into the WestStar locations, which have largely concentrated on commercial banking, Harnack said.
Most of WestStar’s 261 employees can expect to keep their jobs, although some administrative and management positions may be eliminated.
U.S. Bank will need to consolidate two or three branches that are too close to other locations, he said.
Mike Gegen, a first vice president with RBC Dain Rauscher who tracks banking stocks, said the acquisitions, along with others in recent months, are a vote of confidence in the Colorado economy.
“I think it is a good feather in Colorado’s cap. Folks want to be in this market,” he said.
UMB has looked for a long time to make the right acquisition in the state, said Mariner Kemper, chief executive and chairman of UMB Financial.
Mountain States’ $282 million in assets will provide a healthy boost to the approximately $500 million the bank currently oversees in Colorado.
UMB beat out nearly a half-dozen bidders, in part because the two banks, started as family enterprises, had similar cultures.
“They wanted to keep intact, as much as they could, what their family had built, and we were the best partner for that,” said Kemper.
Mountain States CEO Jeffrey Reder and president William Schmidt have been offered positions within UMB Colorado.
The acquisition is the first that Kemper, who lives in Denver, has made since taking over as CEO of the $7.1 billion bank in 2004.
U.S. Bank shares rose 44 cents, or 1.43 percent, to close at $31.31. Vail Bank shares rose 60 cents, or 3.74 percent, to close at $16.65. UMB Bank shares rose $1.03, or 3.2 percent, to close at $33.25.
Staff writer Aldo Svaldi can be reached at 303-820-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com.
