The Bentonville bankers behind Grand Savings Bank — chartered in Grove, Oklahoma, but equally active in northwest Arkansas — have struck a deal to buy a bank in Bolivar, Missouri.
Tony Steele, chairman and largest shareholder of Grand Savings Bank, his son, Vice Chairman Tyler Steele, CEO Guy Cable and 11 other investors have applied to the Federal Reserve Board to acquire Stark Bancshares Inc. of Bolivar, the holding company for LimeBank, which had assets of $124.4 million as of Dec. 31.
The terms of the deal have not been released, but the price tag will be somewhat less than $12.5 million. That’s the amount that Steele Acquisition Inc., newly incorporated in Missouri in December, sought to raise through a private placement registered with the Securities & Exchange Commission in January.
Cable confirmed to Whispers that the entire amount had been placed, and he said the $12.5 million included some expenses other than the bank purchase.
Steele Acquisition will be merged into Stark Bancshares if the purchase receives regulatory approval, and Stark Bancshares will remain the holding company for LimeBank, Cable said. And while Cable will become CEO of LimeBank as well as Grand Savings Bank, the two banks and their holding companies will remain independent.
That, Cable said, is because LimeBank is a Community Development Financial Institution and would lose that federal designation if it were merged with Grand Savings Bank. “We want it to be the community bank of Bolivar, Missouri,” Cable said.
Other Arkansas investors in LimeBank are Carolyn Grimsley, Jill Grimsley and Paul Grimsley, all of Bentonville; Tommy Coughlin of Centerton; Philip Fletcher of Hiwasse; and Roland Julian of Rogers. John Kallenbach and Jim Hacker, both of Bolivar, are investors, as are Kirby Lane of Anderson, Missouri; Pam Lawson of Grove; and Beverly Jones of Jay, Oklahoma.
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