Business First Bancshares in Baton Rouge, La., has agreed to buy Progressive Bancorp in Monroe, La.
The $7.8 billion-asset Business First said in a press release that it will pay $82.6 million in stock for the $752 million-asset Progressive. The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter, priced Progressive at 122% of its tangible book value.
Progressive has nine branches, $673 million of deposits and $583 million of loans.
“This partnership combines companies with shared values, similar cultures and complementary strategies,” Jude Melville, Business First’s chairman, president and CEO, said in the release.
“We’re adding talented bankers who are well-established in communities that are important to us,” Melville added. “It deepens our Louisiana footprint, strengthens our deposit and liquidity profiles, and results in an economically strengthened shared franchise.”
George Cummings III, Progressive’s chairman and CEO, will join Business First’s board when the deal closes. David Hampton, Progressive’s president, will join b1BANK as vice chairman of the north Louisiana market. A retention pool has been created for key executives.
The deal is expected to be 10% accretive to Business First’s 2026 earnings per share. It should take Business First about two years to earn back any dilution to its tangible book value.
Business First plans to cut about 45% of Progressive’s annual noninterest expenses. It plans to incur about $12 million of merger-related charges.
Raymond James & Associates and Hunton Andrews Kurth advised Business First. Mercer Capital and Munck Wilson Mandala advised Progressive.