Arvest Bank Completes Bear State Acquisition

April 21, 2018

Arvest Bank (“Arvest”) announced Friday the closing of its acquisition of Bear State Financial Inc., the parent company of Bear State Bank (“Bear State”), according to a news release.

Arvest and Bear State are now legally one bank but will continue to operate under separate names until sometime this fall, when Bear State branches, accounts and operations will be transitioned to Arvest. Until that transition is complete, customers should continue banking at their current bank locations, according to the release.

With the close of the deal, Arvest now serves more than 135 communities in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, the release states.

As of December 31, Bear State had assets of $2.16 billion, with $1.67 billion in loans and $1.5 billion in deposits, while Arvest had assets of $16.75 billion, with $10.44 billion in loans and $14.37 billion in deposits. As previously announced, this acquisition was a cash transaction valued around $391 million. With the close of the deal, Arvest will have assets of around $18.76 billion, the release states.

“We are pleased to welcome Bear State customers and associates to Arvest,” Arvest marketing director Jason Kincy said in the release. “We have expressed from the beginning of this acquisition how excited we are to add these desirable communities to our footprint. Now we will start working together to combine the two companies to benefit our customers and the communities we serve.”

Bear State customers with questions should contact their local Bear State banker or Bear State’s solutions center at (866) 242-3324.