Plumas Bancorp to Acquire Feather River in $21M Deal

Banking M&A deals have continued apace in March as lenders seek to expand their regional presence and product offering.

California-based Plumas Bancorp has signed a merger agreement to acquire Yuba City-based Feather River in a transaction valued at $21 million.

The merger, due to take place in the third quarter of 2021, will create a combined company with approximately $1.3 billion in assets and with 14 branches throughout Northeastern California and Western Nevada.

Julie Morehead, president and chief executive of Feather River, who will continue with Plumas following the acquisition, said: “Gaining access to Plumas’ network of offices and extensive product lines allows us to expand our footprint and offerings beyond the Yuba-Sutter communities we have served for the past 13 years.”

Elsewhere, Cambridge Savings Bank (CSB), which has more than $5 billion in assets, has completed the transition of Melrose Bank customers and added its 17th physical location, following the acquisition of Melrose Bank in June last year.

CSB president and chief executive Wayne Patenaude called the expansion into Melrose “an exciting opportunity for us to serve a diverse and growing community” in Massachusetts. CSB also said it had donated $100,000 via its charitable foundation to local non-profits chosen by Melrose customers.

Last week, Wisconsin-based PSB Holdings, the parent company of Peoples State Bank, confirmed it had received approval for its merger with Waukesha Bankshares.

PSB chief executive Scott Cattanach said the deal would expand the banking group’s “growing presence” in Southeastern Wisconsin.

As at December 31, 2020, PSB Holdings had $1.13 billion in banking assets and operated nine branches across Wisconsin, while Waukesha Bankshares had approximately $140 million in assets and two branches.

Also last week, subprime lender Curo completed the acquisition of Flexiti Financial, a Canadian point-of-sale, buy-now-pay-later provider.

The transaction included cash at closing of $86 million and contingent consideration of up to $36 million “based on the achievement of risk-adjusted revenue and origination targets over the next two years”.

Don Gayhardt, chief executive of CURO, said: “The acquisition of Flexiti enhances CURO’s long-term growth and financial and risk profiles and allows us to access the full spectrum of Canadian consumers by adding an established private label credit card platform and POS financing capabilities.”