Business
Northwest Bancshares, Inc. enters attractive Indiana markets through merger with MutualFirst Financial, Inc.
WARREN, Pa. and MUNCIE, Ind., Oct. 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwest Bancshares, Inc., ("Northwest"), (NASDAQ: NWBI) and MutualFirst Financial, Inc.,
About this update from Northwest Bancshares, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"WARREN, Pa. and MUNCIE, Ind., Oct. 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwest Bancshares, Inc., (\"Northwest\"), (NASDAQ: NWBI) and MutualFirst Financial, Inc., (\"MutualFirst\") (NASDAQ: MFSF) jointly announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which Northwest will acquire MutualFirst, the Muncie, Indiana-based holding company and parent of MutualBank, in an all-stock transaction valued at $39.89 per share (based on Northwest's 15-day volume weighted average closing stock price ending on October 23, 2019), or approximately $346 million in the aggregate. \n\n \nThe transaction is immediately accretive to Northwest's earnings per share, excluding merger costs, and increases its stand-alone earnings per share by over 10% on a run-rate basis. Further, it gives Northwest access to an attractive new region of prospective customers. The acquisition provides Northwest with an additional $2.1 billion in total assets, $1.6 billion in total deposits, $1.5 billion in loans and 39 banking locations, based upon financial information as of September 30, 2019. \nDavid W. Heeter, President and Chief Executive Officer of MutualFirst, will be named Regional CEO and market leader for Northwest's Indiana franchise after the merger is consummated and will report directly to Ronald J. Seiffert, President and Chief Executive Officer of Northwest. Mr. Heeter commented, \"During our proud 130 year history, MutualBank has been committed to serving our clients and local communities. Through a consistent level of superior quality service, our dedicated staff has grown a loyal commercial and retail customer base. We are very excited about joining the Northwest team. Northwest has demonstrated a similar commitment to its clients, employees and the communities it serves, shares our core values and has an outstanding record of enhancing shareholder value.\" \nIn addition to Mr. Heeter, leadership continuity will be preserved with Christopher L. Caldwell, Senior Vice President of commercial banking at MutualBank, leading the commercial lending team in the Indiana market for Northwest and Christopher D. Cook, current Chief Financial Officer of MutualFirst, transitioning to Chief Operations Officer in the Indiana market. \nMr. Seiffert stated, \"Indiana is an attractive market with a business friendly environment which we have targeted as part of o...