American State Bank to Merge with Prosperity Bank of Houston

American State Bank will become Prosperity Bank in a definitive merger between American State Financial Corporation and Prosperity Bancshares Inc. The announcement came early this morning and it was first reported by Reuters. According to Prosperity Bank this is their fourth acquisition over the past few months.

Reuters reports that under the terms of the deal, Prosperity will pay $178.5 million in cash and issue about 8.52 million of its shares for all outstanding shares of American State.

The deal is expected to close during the third quarter.

"Prosperity's conservative lending philosophy is a perfect fit for us and our combined size and geographic presence provide both organizations with entry into new markets," W.R. Collier, chief executive of American State said in a statement released by Prosperity Bank.

ASB operates over 30 banking locations in West Texas and has $3.06 billion in reported assets along with $1.21 billion in total loans, and $ 2.46 billion in total deposits as of December 31, 2011. Prosperity Bank will issue 8.525 million common stock with $ 178 million in cash for ASB's outstanding capital stock.

ASB's W.R. Collier, who currently serves as Chairman and CEO, will become a director for Prosperity Bancshares and serve as Senior Chairman- West Texas Area. Michael Epps, President of ASB, will become Chairman- West Texas Area and be responsible for day-to-day management and operations for all West Texas locations of Prosperity Bank.

Mike Marshall, ASB's Midland/Odessa Division President will continue with his responsibilities after the merger, and the same for Gary Galbraith, ASB's Abilene Division President.

Prosperity Bank has also announced that Scott Collier, Mark Kirkpatrick, Van May and Don Pickering will join the Board of Directors of Prosperity Bank upon the completion of the merger.

After the merger with ASB is completed, Prosperity Bank will have 215 locations across the state of Texas.