TUPELO, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi bank has won approval to complete mergers with Louisiana and Texas banks that were delayed for nearly four years.
BancorpSouth announced Dec. 27 that it intends to complete the acquisitions of Ouachita Independent Bank and First State Bank Central Texas by Jan. 15. The Tupelo-based bank says it finally been approved by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Mississippi banking regulators.
In early 2014 BancorpSouth proposed to pay $115 million in stock and cash for Ouachita Bancshares Corp. and $210.8 million in stock and cash for Central Community Corp., the parent of First State Bank Central Texas. Stockholder long ago approved sales of the banks, but merger deadlines were repeatedly extended, in part because of federal questions over BancorpSouth’s record of lending to poor and middle-income communities.