Bear State Financial and Arvest Bank received all required regulatory approvals for their previously-announced merger.
To satisfy the conditions imposed by the Federal Reserve’s order of approval, Bear State entered into an agreement with First Financial Bank of El Dorado, AR to sell both of the Bear State Bank branches located in Mena, AR. The two Mena branches had deposits totaling approximately $58 million and loans totaling approximately $30 million as of February 28, 2018. The closing of the sale of the Mena branches is expected to occur within 180 days following the closing of the merger with Arvest.
Following the merger, customers of Bear State Bank and Arvest will not notice any immediate changes. At a later date, Bear State Bank’s branding will change to Arvest Bank, with the full conversion of systems expected to occur later in 2018. In addition, Bear State Bank and First Financial Bank will be providing additional information to customers in Mena affected by the divestiture of those branches.
Bear State Bank operates 42 branches, three personalized technology centers equipped with interactive teller machines and two loan production offices throughout Arkansas, Southwest Missouri and Southeast Oklahoma.
Arvest Bank operates more than 250 bank branches in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas through a group of 16 locally managed markets, each with its own local board and management team.
