NBH Holdings Announces FDIC-Assisted Acquisition of Hillcrest Bank

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. and BOSTON, Oct. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- NBH Holdings Corp (NBH) announced today that it has entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") to purchase certain assets and to assume certain deposits and other liabilities of Hillcrest Bank.  Hillcrest is a state chartered, commercial bank based in Overland Park, KS.

This acquisition follows on the heels of NBH's recent announcement to acquire Bank Midwest from Dickinson Financial Corporation (DFC) and is consistent with NBH's strategy to build a strong commercial banking presence in the Midwest – and particularly in Missouri and Kansas.  

"We are very excited to welcome the Hillcrest customers and employees to NBH.  We are confident the combined Hillcrest and Bank Midwest will provide high-quality products and services to our customers and be a strong community-oriented bank," said Tim Laney, president and chief executive officer of NBH.

The Hillcrest acquisition will include its nine full-service branches in four states – Kansas, Missouri, Texas and Colorado – and 32 retirement centers where it offers retail banking products and services to the residents of assisted living centers.  With $1.6 billion in total assets and $1.5 billion in deposits, Hillcrest offers a variety of deposit, credit and financial products to meet the needs of its customers.  Its loan products include commercial and commercial real estate lending products, treasury management, and consumer lending products, including mortgages, home equity and lines of credit for small business.  NBH will operate as Hillcrest Bank, N.A. until it applies to merge it into its Bank Midwest charter in 2011.

"This acquisition is exactly the type of transaction we had in mind when we announced the Bank Midwest acquisition," said Laney.  "Our interest is in banks that expand our footprint in community banking in key markets and give us a strong and stable platform for growth.  At the same time, we want to bring secure and reliable community banking back to customers, with the level of service and quality of products that people want and deserve from their local banks."

NBH engaged Goldman Sachs as financial advisor and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz as legal advisor for this transaction.

About NBH

NBH was created to build a leading community bank franchise delivering high quality customer service and strong shareholder results.  NBH raised in excess of $1.0 billion through the sale of common stock in a private placement in late 2009.  Led by a highly experienced and accomplished management team with a successful track record of operating large and complex financial institutions, NBH intends to become a publicly traded bank holding company.

Not an Offer.  This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in any state or jurisdiction.

Forward-Looking Statements.  This press release contains forward-looking statements. Any statements about our expectations, beliefs, plans, predictions, forecasts, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not historical facts and may be forward-looking. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "anticipate," "believes," "can," "could," "may," "predicts," "potential," "should," "will," "estimate," "plans," "projects," "continuing," "ongoing," "expects," "intends" and similar words or phrases.  Accordingly, these statements are only predictions and involve estimates, known and unknown risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in them. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements, including as a result of factors outside NBH's or DFC's control, such as economic and other conditions in the markets in which NBH, Bank Midwest and DFC operate; inability to complete the transaction announced today; managements' ability to effectively execute their respective business plans; regulatory enforcement actions to which DFC, NBH and/or Bank Midwest are currently and may in the future be subject; changes in capital classification; changes in the economy affecting real estate values; inability to attract and retain deposits; changes in the level of non-performing assets and charge-offs; changes in the financial performance and/or condition of borrowers; inflation, interest rate, cost of funds, securities market and monetary fluctuations; changes in laws and regulations; and competition. All forward-looking statements are necessarily only estimates of future results, and there can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from expectations, and, therefore, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which the statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

SOURCE NBH Holdings Corp