Bankshares of Fayetteville Inc., holding company of Bank of Fayetteville, represents the third acquisition by Farmers & Merchants Bankshares Inc. of Stuttgart in the past seven years.
Terms of the proposed deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter, have yet to surface.
F&M’s two earlier deals marked expansions to the east and west: Perry County Bancshares Inc., parent company of $121 million-asset Chart Bank of Perryville, $22.7 million in June 2008; and Lee County Bancshares Inc., parent company of the $56.7 million-asset First National Bank of Marianna, $10.1 million in June 2009.
The two lenders were folded into Farmers & Merchants Bank of Stuttgart and helped accelerate its growth track.
Bank of Fayetteville has followed an up-and-down path, tied to the fortunes of northwest Arkansas real estate. The bank’s asset total of $358 million today is equivalent to where the lender was at year-end 2004.
During that same time frame, Farmers & Merchants grew from $284 million to more than $702 million.
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