Icon (Close Menu)

Logout

Stone Bank Draws $88M-$90M Deal

3 min read

The sale of Mountain View’s Stone Bank will land between $88 million and $90 million. Where the final price lands depends on the adjustments at closing.

That transaction is occurring through MO/ARK Bancshares Inc. acquiring the bank’s holding company, Stone Bancshares Inc.

Using the low-end price of $88 million as the payday, a group of six shareholders will divvy up more than $41 million. Their combined interest in Stone Bancshares tallies 47%:

 J.T. Compton of Morrilton, 11.12% worth nearly $9.8 million;

 Ken Compton of Morrilton, 10.72% worth more than $9.4 million;

 Kevin Compton of Little Rock, 10.53% worth more than $9.2 million;

 Sonya Daniels of Navarre Beach, Florida, 6.97% worth more than $6.1 million;

 Charlie Daniels of Maria, Florida, 6.07% worth more than $5.3 million; and

 Niva Compton Lancaster of Springfield, Missouri, 1.59% worth $1.4 million.

The three top executives at the $650 million-asset Stone Bank also will share in the final payout:

 Marnie Oldner, chief executive officer, 4.62% worth more than $4 million;

 Nick Roach, president, 2.93% worth more than $2.5 million; and

 Stephen Ragland, chief financial officer, 1.26% worth more than $1.1 million.

MO/ARK Bancshares was formed by the Combs family, which owns three southern Missouri banks through Alton Bancshares Inc.

The trio of lenders are the $142 million-asset First Community Bank of the Ozarks in Branson, the $110 million-asset Alton Bank and the $160 million-asset Table Rock Community Bank in Kimberling City, which was purchased last year.

Ownership of Alton Bancshares is divided among Kendall and Patricia Combs of Hollister, Missouri, 62%; Randall and Beckie Combs of Alton, Missouri, 22%; and Michael and Sandra Combs of Walnut Shade, Missouri, 16%.

The pending sale of Stone Bank to the Combs family represents the deepest reach into Arkansas by Missouri bankers since two St. Louis lenders rolled into the state nearly 30 years ago.

Back in 1994, the parent companies of Boatmen’s Bank and Mercantile Bank struck stock swap deals to buy into the Arkansas banking community. Boatmen’s acquired Little Rock’s Worthen Banking Corp. for $595 million, and Mercantile purchased North Little Rock’s TCBankshares Inc. for $155 million.

Boatmen’s and Mercantile were lost in the flurry of 1990s mergers. These days, eight Missouri banks are on the ground in Arkansas. Here’s when they came to the state:

► June 2005: The predecessor of the $803 million-asset Focus Bank in Charleston acquired Bank of Paragould.

► December 2010: The $3.4 billion-asset Southern Bank in Poplar Bluff took over Batesville’s First Southern Bank in an FDIC-assisted transaction.

► May 2010: The $5.6 billion-asset Great Southern Bank in Reeds Spring opened its full-service Rogers branch.

► October 2013: The $204 million-asset First Missouri Bank of SEMO in Kennett opened its full-service branch in Leachville.

► January 2020: The $440 million-asset Unico Bank in Mineral Point was born after the acquisition of Kennett’s Unico Federal Savings Bank by Irondale Bank. The Missouri thrift was built on the bones of Trumann’s Unipoint Federal Savings Bank purchased in June 1990.

► October 2020: The $1.3 billion-asset Sterling Bank in Poplar Bluff opened a Fayetteville office.

► October 2021: The $242 million-asset Century Bank of the Ozarks in Gainesville opened the first of two Mountain Home locations.

Send this to a friend