Hoosier Banks Announce Merger
The merger of River Valley and German American Bancorp is expected to close on March 1.
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowJasper-based German American Bancorp Inc. (Nasdaq: GABC) has announced an agreement to acquire River Valley Bancorp. (Nasdaq: RIVR), which is headquartered in Madison. The deal is valued at $83.5 million.
Under the agreement, River Valley will merge into German American. The deal is a mix of stock and cash considerations and involves the issue of approximately 1.94 million shares of River Valley common stock and pay around $25 million in cash.
The companies say the value of the transaction will fluctuate with the market until the deal is closed, which is expected to be early next year.
German American Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mark Schroeder says "this merger with River Valley represents a strategic opportunity for German American to enhance our previously stated objective of expanding our Southern Indiana footprint into the vibrant Southeast Indiana market area. River Valley has built a solid community banking franchise in three distinct markets in which German American can provide our extensive offerings of banking, insurance, and investment products and services to River Valley’s current and prospective clients."
River Valley Chief Executive Officer Matthew Forrester says "we believe German American is an ideal partner for our bank, and we are delighted to become a part of German American’s organization. Like River Valley, German American is deeply committed to the communities it serves and through this combination of our two community-focused organizations, we will be in a position to better serve our customers through increased convenience as well as the addition of broader financial services."
German American’s retail banking office presence covers more than three dozen locations in 13 southern Indiana counties. It also has a brokerage and financial planning subsidiary and a full service property and casualty insurance agency. River Valley has 14 banking offices in Indiana and Kentucky.