Western States BanCorporation (“Western States”) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Western States Bank, headquartered in Laramie, Wyoming, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Omaha, Nebraska-based First National of Nebraska and its subsidiary First National Bank of Omaha (“FNBO”).
Olsen Palmer LLC served as exclusive financial advisor and issued a fairness opinion to Western States BanCorporation.
The proposed transaction, FNBO’s first announced whole-bank acquisition in almost 15 years, is subject to customary regulatory approvals, the approval of Western States’ shareholders, and the completion of various closing conditions and is anticipated to close in the first quarter of 2022.
FNBO is the primary banking subsidiary of First National of Nebraska which has $25 billion in assets and nearly 100 locations in Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota and Texas.
Western States, founded in 2006, has $542 million in total assets and 10 branch locations located in Southeast Wyoming, Northeast Colorado and the Panhandle of Nebraska.
Olsen Palmer LLC remains one of the top 3 bank M&A advisory firms nationwide while Managing Partner Christopher Olsen remains the #1 individual bank M&A advisor nationwide according to S&P Global, as ranked by the total number of whole-bank M&A transactions advised upon since 2019.