First Financial Bankshares to acquire The Bank & Trust of Bryan/College Station

First Financial Bankshares Inc. recently announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire TB&T Bancshares Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, The Bank & Trust of Bryan/College Station.

Subject to the terms and conditions of the definitive agreement, the acquisition consideration will consist solely of First Financial Bankshares common stock totaling approximately 6.276 million shares. The purchase price was established based on a $30.28 price per share of FFIN common stock and totaled $190 million as of the close of business on the day both parties agreed to pricing. Pending regulatory and shareholder approval, the acquisition is expected to be finalized in the first quarter of 2020.

The acquisition of The Bank & Trust expands First Financial Bankshares’ growing Texas footprint with five branches in Bryan and College Station, the home of Texas A&M University, with more than 60,000 students and one of the largest universities in the U.S.

 This community also hosts Blinn College with more than 12,000 students and the new Rellis Academic Alliance, which is a partnership between Blinn and Texas A&M. This is a high-growth college community that should continue to grow with this higher education influence and all of the related businesses with it.

“We have courted The Bank & Trust for a number of years because they are one of the highest-rated banks in Texas, have had steady growth and have a solid market share in the Bryan/College Station market,” said F. Scott Dueser, chairman, president and CEO of First Financial Bankshares.

“This bank is well-managed by a group of bankers who have a long history of serving this market and will continue in their present positions. We are looking forward to joining together with The Bank & Trust and the Texas A&M University community with First Financial and our combined rich histories. First Financial was founded in 1890 by Fleming Wills James and John Garland James, who also helped found Texas A&M, where John Garland James was the second president of the University.”

Once the acquisition is complete, First Financial will have banking operations throughout Texas with 78 locations that span from Hereford in the Panhandle to Orange in Southeast Texas.

As of June 30, The Bank & Trust had total assets of $624.5 million, total loans of $445.6 million and total deposits of $538.2 million.

“We are very excited about the pending merger with First Financial Bankshares,” said Tim Bryan, chairman & CEO of The Bank & Trust. “First Financial is one of the top performing banks in the country and has been for quite some time. First Financial is a first-class organization which produces first-class results.

“Its ‘One Bank, Multiple Regions’ concept combines the resources of a big bank with traditional community banking services. As a part of a larger institution, we will be better able to fund our larger customers’ borrowing needs, provide wealth management for our more affluent customers and additional consumer products. It’s a win-win for all of us, our customers and all of Bryan-College Station.”