Zions Bancorp. said Wednesday it agreed to buy Vectra Banking Corp. and Tri-State Finance Corp. in separate deals for a total of $200 million in stock.
Zions, based in Salt Lake City, is a regional bank with assets of $8.05 billion. Vectra, based in Denver, is a bank holding company with assets of $660 million. Tri-State, a privately held company, had assets of $130 million.Under the agreements, expected to close early next year, Zions will exchange 0.685 of its shares for each Vectra common share and 7.75 of its shares for each Vectra preferred share. Zions, which has 60 million shares outstanding, will exchange 710,000 of its shares for all the stock of Tri-State.
In early trading Wednesday, shares of Zions rose 0.6 percent, or 25 cents, to $41.37 1/2 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Shares of Vectra rose 14 percent, or $3.371/2, to $27, also on the Nasdaq.
Costs associated with the deals are expected to lower Zions' profits in the first quarter of next year by $1.2 million in merger-related charges. However, the company expects the acquisitions to begin boosting earnings per share immediately.
Zions posted first-quarter earnings of $14.8 million, or $1.81 a share.