Spirit of Texas Bancshares, based in Conroe, has agreed to be acquired by Simmons First National Corporation, in a transaction worth $581 million. [UPDATE 04-08-22 – The deal has now closed.]

Spirit of Texas Bank operates 37 branches, primarily in the Texas triangle between Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio.

Simmons, based in Arkansas, operates 209 branches, but only 23 in Texas, around Dallas/Fort Worth and towns north of there.  It did have five locations in Austin and San Antonio but sold them to Spirit in February 2020 for $131 million. Simmons has been on an acquisition spree recently. Just last month, the company completed the acquisitions of two Tennessee-based banks for $278 million.

Spirit of Texas started in 2008 by acquiring First Bank of Snook in College Station. It went public in May 2008, raising $42 million. That valued the bank at around $200 million. It has made four  acquisitions since going public.

Founder and CEO of Spirit, Dean Bass, will retire and join the Simmons board as an independent director.

Two weeks ago, two Houston-based banks, Allegiance and CBTX, announced a $1.5 billion merger.

Both transactions are expected to close in the second quarter of 2022.

Simmons Spirit acquisition – investor presentation

Houston-based banks, Allegiance Bank and CBTX, have agreed to merge in an all-stock transaction. The combined market capitalization will be around $1.5 billion. and it will have $8.7 billion in deposits, placing it 6th in the Houston region (behind JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, PNC and Zions).

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Allegiance has 28 branches, 27 in Houston and 1 in Beaumont. CBTX has 19 branches in Houston, 15 in the Beaumont area and one in Dallas.

Allegiance shareholders will own 54% of the combined stock, CBTX 46%. The bank name has yet to be determined.

Steve Retzloff, CEO of Allegiance, will become Executive Chairman, while Paul Egge, CFO of Allegiance, will take the same role in the combined company. Bob Franklin, CEO of CBTX, will become CEO of the combined company.

Both banks began operations in 2007. Allegiance initially concentrated on organic growth but in recent years made four acquisitions including Farmers & Merchants and Post Oak Bank. It completed its IPO in 2015.

CBTX started out in Beaumont in 2007 with the acquisition of CountyBank and later bought Crosby State Bank, Vista Bank and Memorial City Bank to expand into Houston. It went public in 2017.

The banks expect annualized pre-tax cost savings of $36 million. That’s net of $1 million of incremental costs for increased regulations and risk management that are required when a bank exceeds $10 billion in assets.

Closing is expected in the 2nd quarter of 2022.

SEC filing – Allegiance and CBTX merger

Moody Gardens – Galveston

[UPDATE 5-25-22 The acquisition was completed]

American National Group (ANAT), an insurance company based in Galveston, has agreed to be acquired by Brookfield Asset Management Reinsurance for $5.1 billion.

The all-cash offer of $190 per share represents a 25% over the weighted average share price for the past 30 days. There were press reports in May that the company was exploring a possible sale. Prior to that, the stock price was around $120 per share.

ANAT was formed in 1905 in Galveston by William Lewis Moody Jr. It has $30 billion in assets, primarily in life insurance, though it has health, property, and casualty products. It operates in all 50 states.

70% of the stock is owned by the Moody Family or The Moody Foundation. The Libbie Shearn Moody Trust, The Moody Foundation and the Moody Medical Research Institute, who collectively own 60% of the shares, have approved the sale.

A lot of the shares of ANAT are owned in trusts of surviving members of the Moody family. Once the beneficiary dies, most of the shares in those trusts will revert back to The Moody Foundation.  According to the 2019 financial report of The Moody Foundation, about two-thirds of its investments (direct and indirect) were tied up in its investment in ANAT, so the sale will allow it to diversify its assets.

Following closing, Brookfield Reinsurance intends to maintain American National’s headquarters in Galveston and its presence in League City, as well as its operational hubs in Springfield, Missouri and Albany, New York.

According to the Wall Street Journal there has been a ‘frenzy among investment firms to amass insurance assets in recent months, with Blackstone Group Inc., Apollo Global Management Inc. and KKR & Co. all announcing big transactions’. With low interest rates, insurance companies generate a lot of cash that can be reinvested in other higher yielding investment products.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2022.

In April, CFO Tim Walsh was promoted to COO.

Press release – American National Group