First Busey, the parent company of Busey Bank, has finalised the previously announced $917m acquisition of rival US-based bank holding firm CrossFirst Bankshares.
The deal was announced in August 2024.
CrossFirst Bank will remain as a distinct banking subsidiary under First Busey until its integration with Busey Bank, which is expected in June 2025.
Post-merger, CrossFirst’s branches will be rebranded under the Busey name, resulting in an enlarged commercial bank operating from 77 locations across 10 states.
The combined institution will oversee total assets of about $20bn, with deposits of $17bn, loans amounting to $15bn, and wealth assets under management totalling $14bn.
The headquarters for the enlarged holding company will be located in Leawood, Kansas. Meanwhile, Busey Bank’s headquarters will continue to be based in Champaign, Illinois.
This acquisition allows First Busey to extend its reach into rapidly expanding metropolitan markets, enhancing its commercial banking capabilities and providing new avenues for its wealth management services and payment technology subsidiary, FirsTech.
As of 31 December 2024, First Busey, headquartered in Champaign, Illinois, was valued at $12.05bn.
CrossFirst Bankshares is based in Kansas. Its subsidiary, CrossFirst Bank, caters to businesses and individuals across several states including Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.
Busey Bank had total assets amounting to $12.01bn as of the end of 2024. It operates 62 banking centres across Central Illinois, suburban Chicago markets, St. Louis Metropolitan Area, Southwest Florida, and Indianapolis.
According to the terms of the merger agreement effective from 1 March 2025, each share of CrossFirst’s common stock was converted into 0.6675 shares of Busey common stock.
CrossFirst shareholders received cash for any fractional shares and are now eligible for dividends declared by Busey.
Following the completion of the transaction, former CrossFirst shareholders own approximately 36.5% of the combined company on a fully-diluted basis.
Busey chairman and CEO Van Dukeman said: “Over the past few years, we have been keenly focused on maintaining Busey’s fortress balance sheet—featuring exceptional credit quality, strong liquidity, excess capital and diversified revenue streams buttressed by our wealth management and payments processing businesses—to be well positioned to capitalise on a financially and strategically compelling opportunity of size and scale.
“This is that opportunity and we look forward to fully integrating our banks while leveraging the talent, expertise, increased scale and market presence to benefit our Pillars.”
Trading of CrossFirst common stock ceased following the closure of the NASDAQ stock market on 28 February 2025. The merged company’s shares will continue trading under the “BUSE” ticker symbol on NASDAQ.
