St. Louis, Mo.’s First Bank to Acquire Adrian N. Baker & Co.

First Bank, a Missouri state chartered bank and wholly owned subsidiary of First Banks Inc. headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, and Clayton, Mo.-based insurance brokerage Adrian N. Baker & Company, announced that First Bank will acquire Adrian Baker as part of a stock purchase agreement.

Under the terms of the agreement, First Bank will acquire all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Adrian Baker. The agreement is effective March 31, 2006.

Adrian Baker is a privately owned independent insurance brokerage company that provides a comprehensive range of employee benefits, commercial and personal insurance services. Adrian Baker has been in business for over 65 years and services multiple clients on a nationwide basis.

Terrance M. McCarthy, senior executive vice president and chief operating Officer of First Banks, said, “First Banks’ affiliation with Adrian Baker provides a significant opportunity to enter this highly-specialized financial services arena with a partner that has established a long and proven history within the insurance industry. Adrian Baker offers its customers personalized service and innovative solutions to appropriately accommodate their specific insurance needs and requirements.”

McCarthy added, “We are pleased to welcome the employees and customers of Adrian Baker to First Banks and look forward to expanding this line of business throughout our expansive commercial and retail network.”

Steven F. Schepman, senior vice president and chief financial officer of First Banks, said “Adrian Baker will operate as a separate subsidiary of First Bank through its existing qualified and experienced team of professionals.”

Adrian N. Baker II, president of Adrian Baker, said the two firms had been in discussions for over a year and “are very similar in that they both have evolved over several generations from family ownership into much larger companies with the ability to service customers with a national and international presence. We are looking forward to bringing enhanced capabilities to both organizations’ clientele, so we can better service their needs.”

At Dec. 31, 2005, First Banks reported assets of $9.17 billion, loans, net of unearned discount, of $7.02 billion, deposits of $7.54 billion and stockholders’ equity of $678.9 million.

First Banks currently offers a broad menu of consumer and commercial loan and deposit product lines in addition to other financial services, including telephone and internet banking, debit cards, mortgage banking, small business lending, brokerage services, trust, private banking and institutional money management services. First Banks currently operates 178 branch banking offices in California, Illinois, Missouri and Texas.

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Missouri