Delta Trust Shareholders 3Q Payday Approaching

J. French Hill

The value of the pending acquisition of Little Rock’s Delta Trust & Banking Corp. stands at about $67.2 million. That number is based on a recent closing price of $39.65 per share for Simmons First National Corp. of Pine Bluff.

That estimated price tag in the stock swap transaction doesn’t include an additional $2 million that Simmons expects to pay before closing. That cash will purchase Delta Trust stock options totaling 7,236 shares.

Simmons will allocate up to $10 million for Delta Trust shareholders who want cash instead of stock.

The biggest shareholder in Delta Trust is Thomas Pugh Jr., whose family helped establish the bank in 1910 as the Bank of Parkdale.

The Ashley County lender was renamed Southeast Arkansas Bank in 1992 and became Delta Trust & Bank in 2000 when the shareholder base was expanded and the operational center shifted to Little Rock.

Pugh’s nearly 10.5 percent stake in Delta Trust & Banking will yield about $7 million in the Simmons deal.

Two of the largest blocks of stock are owned by the Stephen L. LaFrance Sr. family and Robert LaRoche of Carson City, Nevada.

The LaFrance family’s combined 8.07 percent ownership of Delta Trust & Banking is worth about $5.4 million. LaRoche’s 6.36 percent will yield about $4.2 million.

Morin “Monty” Scott and George O’Connor are two Delta Trust directors who helped make the Simmons deal happen.

Scott’s 4.06 percent is worth $2.7 million, and O’Connor’s 1.46 percent is valued at more than $980,000.

French Hill, chairman and CEO of Delta Trust & Banking, owns 3.14 percent of the holding company. Those shares are worth $2.1 million.

In addition to his stock, Hill will receive $1.5 million for his warrants for 5,343 shares of Delta Trust & Banking stock and his options for another 800 shares. Hill’s payday also includes $422,325 for the accrued value of his supplemental executive retirement plan.

Carroll Penick, president of Delta Trust & Banking, will receive $171,930 in cash for his 642 shares worth of Delta Trust stock options and warrants.

He also owns a 1.08 percent stake in the holding company, worth about $726,000.

Penick and Hill had golden parachute clauses after a fashion. Both will join Simmons after the sale, and Penick will receive the equivalent of one year’s salary.

Hill is the Republican nominee for Congress from the 2nd District. If he is elected in November, he would still be able to collect on a sizable chunk of $987,500, severance due under his 2013 employment agreement with Delta Trust.

Hill can tap the severance payout if he leaves Simmons for any reason within two years of the purchase of Delta.

Delta Trust & Bank
Total assets: $444 million
Net income:  $1.06 million
Staff: 129
Full-service locations: Little Rock (three); Bella Vista, Conway, Eudora*, Fayetteville, Hamburg, Parkdale and Wilmot
As of March 31, 2014

*To address federal antitrust concerns regarding the Chicot County market, Simmons will donate the Eudora branch to Southern Bancorp Bank of Arkadelphia, one of the largest rural development banks in the nation.