Arkansas Business news partner THV 11 News had Bob Birch, regional president of Centennial Bank, on its morning show Wednesday to talk about Home BancShares Inc.’s $280 million deal for Liberty Bank of Arkansas Inc., announced yesterday. Home BancShares, of course, is the holding company for Centennial Bank.
“It really started with a friendship between Wallace Fowler and John Allison,” Birch told Ashley Blackstone in the clip above. “John Allison is actually from Jonesboro — went to school there, grew up there. So in some aspects, Mr. Allison’s getting the opportunity to — quote — go home.”
Birch reiterated that the deal is set to close in September, and that Liberty Bank customers will start seeing the changeover by the end of the year.
More: Watch Wallace Fowler and John Allison talk about their big bank deal in this video — and you can see my Arkansas Business on THV 11 News report on the merger here.
Also: Below, Allison and Fowler interviewed live yesterday afternoon on Jonesboro’s KAIT-TV, Channel 8. It includes Allison’s plans for the naming rights at Arkansas State University’s football stadium, currently named for Liberty Bank.
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