Business First Bancshares in Baton Rouge, La., sold a branch. The $7.9 billion-asset company said in a press release that it sold a location in Kaplan, La., to an unnamed bank for a net capital injection of $3.4 million. The sale, which closed in early April, included $50.7 million of deposits that landed an 8% purchase premium. Business First said the sale should lower annual operating costs by $750,000.

Trustmark in Jackson, Miss., plans to convert to having a state-chartered bank. The company disclosed in a regulatory filing that Trustmark National Bank would switch from a national banking association. Trustmark said it already received approval to become a member of the Federal Reserve System. The application is pending with the Mississippi Department of Banking and Consumer Finance.

Comerica in Dallas is facing pressure from an investor to find a buyer. HoldCo Asset Management in Florida, which owns about 1.8% of the $tk billion-asset company's stock, released a presentation urging a sale to maximize shareholder value. "The firm has also been vocal with bank positions in the past," Scott Siefers, an analyst at Piper Sandler, wrote in a note to clients. "Too early to know any consequences of

America First Credit Union in Riverdale, Utah, has agreed to buy Meadows Bank in Las Vegas. The $22.5 billion-asset credit union said in a press release that it plans to rebrand the $1.4 billion-asset Meadows as Meadows Financial to operate as a division. The price wasn't disclosed. Meadows has six branches in Nevada and Arizona.

U.S. Eagle Federal Credit Union in Albuquerque, N.M., is no longer set to buy Southwest Capital Bank in Albuquerque. The $1.5 billion-credit union agreed last August to buy the $434 million-asset Southwest Capital in a deal that was expected to close in the second quarter. Chez Steel, Southwest Capital's CEO, indicated that the recent losses at the credit union were partially responsible for the deal collapsing. While Southwest Capital "is very

The pending sale of Synovus Financial in Columbus, Ga., to Pinnacle Financial Partners in Nashville, Tenn., includes a series of high-stakes compensation arrangements for the team that will lead the newly combined company. The $54.8 billion-asset Pinnacle announced last week that it would pay $8.6 billion in stock for the $61 billion-asset Synovus in a deal expected to close in the first quarter. Terry Turner, Pinnacle's chairman and CEO, will serve

East Texas Financial in Kilgore has agreed to buy Texas National Bancorp. in Jacksonville. The parent of the $488 million-asset Citizens Bank did not disclose how much it plans to pay for the $836 million-asset Texas National. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. The acquisition "represents a strategic step forward ... enabling us to expand our presence in new communities in East Texas while maintaining local,

Simmons First National in Pine Bluff, Ark., shed underperforming securities. The company, which recently raised $327 million by selling common stock, disclosed in a regulatory filing that it sold about $3.2 billion of investment securities to Morgan Stanley at an after-tax loss of about $604 million. The loss will be recorded in the third quarter.