Centennial Bank to snap up First MainStreet

WINDSOR — Centennial Bank Holdings Inc. is acquiring First MainStreet Financial Ltd. of Longmont for stock valued at $105 million.
According to Centennial Bank Holdings, the price is approximately 2.1 times First MainStreet’s book value at the end of the third quarter and 25 times trailing twelve-month earnings.
First MainStreet operates six branches including locations in Fort Collins and Loveland and had $382 million in assets as of Sept. 30, 2004.
“They offered us and our shareholders 10 million shares at $10.50, or approximately 16 percent of the combined shares of the holding company,´ said Craig Ockers, First MainStreet’s president and CEO.
The identity of the banks has not been determined, Ockers said. He wasn’t sure whether the banks would maintain their separate identities or join together under one name.
The only information Ockers said he knew about the three banks is that David Boyles, co-chairman and CEO of Guaranty Bank and Trust, would be the organization’s president and head of the banking arm.
“We are extremely excited about the acquisition of First MainStreet,´ said John Eggemeyer, chairman of the board and CEO of Centennial Bank Holdings Inc. “First MainStreet’s reputation as a leading business bank in the Front Range is consistent with our vision of continuing Centennial’s transformation in the Colorado’s premier independent commercial bank.”
The acquisition of First MainStreet would give Centennial Bank Holdings total assets of $2.6 billion once the deal closes in July 2005. In September Centennial Bank Holdings agreed to purchase Guaranty Corp., which has total assets of $1.4 billion. The deal is expected to close on Dec. 31, 2004.
John Eggemeyer and his investment group, Castle Creek Capital, where unknown in Northern Colorado until the group agreed to purchase Centennial Bank of the West for $155 million in March.
Now the group – operating at Centennial Bank Holdings – is gearing up for a public stock offering on the Nasdaq market. In September Eggemeyer said the group wanted to go public with the bank stock once the holding company had approximately $2 billion in total assets.
In a statement released by Centennial Bank Holdings, the company said it plans on filing a Form S-4 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to register shares. Ockers said the company anticipated filing the form in April 2005 and that the stock offering would most likely occur in June.

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