Little overlap makes First Interstate, Great Western merger work

Other than the new brand on the buildings, there’s been little apparent change so far as Great Western banks in the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado became First Interstate Banks.

Billings, Montana-based First Interstate BancSystem Inc. (Nasdaq: FIBK) acquired Sioux Falls, South Dakota-headquartered Great Western Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: GWB) in an all-stock transaction valued at about $2 billion. The acquisition was first announced last September.

“Part of what made this merger so compelling is that there is very little overlap between First Interstate and Great Western Bank’s existing branch locations,” said Gail Grant, First Interstate’s regional president for Colorado. “There has been…