At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Andy Harmening, President and CEO, to discuss this announcement in more detail. Please go ahead, sir.
Good morning, and thank you for joining us both on short notice and after a Holiday weekend. This is Andy Harmening, and I'm joined by our Chief Financial Officer, Derek Meyer, and our Chief Credit Officer, Pat Ahern. We are very excited this morning to share that Associated has announced a Merger with American National Corporation, a leading Community Bank headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. This transaction represents another important milestone in our journey to build a strong, high-performing, and diversified Midwestern Banking Franchise, one that's deeply rooted in our communities and focused on profitable, sustainable, and long-term growth. Today, we'll walk you through the highlights of the transaction, including the Strategic rationale, Market expansion benefits, and Financial impact. Before we do that, I'd like to briefly acknowledge the Strategic journey we've been on and what we've achieved to date and how today's transaction advances that Strategic journey.
Since I joined Associated in April of 2021, we've been hard at work building a stronger and more profitable Bank that is positioned to take advantage of organic growth opportunities in Markets across the Midwest. We've made a series of investments to bolster key leadership across the Bank, create a best-in-class value proposition for Consumers and Small Businesses, and expand our Commercial Banking presence in Metro markets where we were underpenetrated, all while adhering to our legacy foundation as a Bank with strong credit culture, expense discipline, and positive impact in the communities we serve. Here in 2025, these investments are already paying off and positioning us for future performance. We're proving that we can grow and deepen our customer base organically and take share in major Metropolitan markets. We're seeing strong customer satisfaction scores.
We posted net household growth each quarter so far in 2025, and we're on pace to deliver our strongest year for organic household growth since we began tracking almost a decade ago. We're also proving that we can grow and remix our Balance Sheet simultaneously, delivering stronger profitability as a result. Importantly, our plan is delivering results for our Shareholders. Since announcing phase I of our Strategic plan, we've delivered total Shareholder Return of 53%, which is more than double the KBW Regional Bank Index over that same period. We're proud of how far we've come over these past four years, and today's announcement presents a unique opportunity to further build on our momentum. Moving to today's transaction on slide four, the acquisition of American National complements our strategy and presents a natural opportunity to expand our Franchise across attractive Midwestern Markets and enhance our long-term organic growth strategy.
The transaction enables us to enter the vibrant Omaha Metropolitan area with a number two Deposit market share. We also strengthen our position in the Twin Cities, adding over $800 million in deposits and achieving a number 10 Pro- forma Deposit market share. The transaction is also attractive from a Financial standpoint, with achievable Cost savings underpinning ROTSE accretion and CET1 Capital enhancement. We expect the transaction to deliver EPS accretion in 2027 and modest tangible book dilution with a short earnback period of just over two years. Importantly, Associated and American National are a natural fit for one another due to the cultural similarities between the two companies. We both have roots going back to the mid-1800s and emphasize a local approach in serving our markets. We both have a customer-centric approach to decision-making, segmentation, and operating systems.
We both have conservative credit cultures with strong asset quality, and we both care deeply about supporting and uplifting the communities we serve. In getting to know the American National eadership team and business through this process, we've been especially excited about the shared vision we have for our clients and communities. To that end, we're pleased to say that American National Co-CEO, Wende Kotouc , will join Associated's board of directors upon closing, and we will be forming a new Omaha Advisory Board. We believe that our plan for partnership post-transaction will support a seamless experience for Clients, Team members, and Communities alike. On slide five, we lay out some of the key terms of this transaction. The transaction is structured as all stock with a fixed Exchange ratio, whereby American National Shareholders receive 36.25 shares of Associated Stock for each share of American National Stock.
This represents total deal value of approximately $604 million based on Friday's closing price. At closing, Associated Shareholders will own 88% of the combined company, and American National Shareholders will own 12%. The transaction value represents 1.14 times tangible book value, 9.2 times 2026 estimated earnings, or 6.8 times inclusive of Cost synergies, and a 1.6% core deposit premium. Leadership and Operational alignment is critical, and we look forward to having Wende Kotouc , American National Bank's Co-CEO and Co-Chair, join Associated's board of directors. We will also have John Kotouc , American National Corporation's Co-CEO and Co-Chair, remain in a consultancy role post-close to ensure a smooth integration. As mentioned, we are establishing an Omaha-based advisory board to ensure deep local engagement and community presence. We will also continue to honor all of American National's community contributions.
The transaction has been approved by the Boards of both companies, as well as the voting Shareholders of American National. We expect the transaction to close in the second quarter of 2026, subject to customary regulatory approvals. Turning to slide six, American National is a client-centric Community Bank with a local scale, strong Financial track record, and disciplined approach to growth. They have a 160-plus year history of serving their clients and communities with a strong focus on relationship Banking. The Bank manages $5.3 billion of assets, $3.8 billion of loans, and $4.7 billion of deposits. The diversified Loan portfolio and strong Liquidity profile supported by relationship-based core deposits are a complement to Associated's Balance Sheet strength and priorities. Their leadership position in Omaha and presence in the Twin Cities creates a natural geographic fit with our existing Franchise.
On slide seven, we provide a bit more detail about these two MSAs specifically. Omaha and the Twin Cities are among the most attractive and resilient markets in the Midwest, with solid population growth, favorable household income characteristics, and diversified local Economies. Combined, we will have approximately $3.4 billion of deposits in Omaha, ranking number two in Deposit market share, and $3.3 billion in the Twin Cities, ranking number 10 in Deposit market share. Together, these two Metros will represent nearly 20% of our total deposit base, adding scale in markets that have healthy growth outlooks and stronger wealth characteristics than both the Midwest and the National average. Growing in these markets also provides meaningful long-term organic growth opportunities for Associated. Our entry into Omaha is particularly compelling as it's a Community-centered market with a mix of Commercial, Retail, and Wealth clients highly aligned with our core strengths and priorities.
In the Twin Cities, we already have momentum. We've recently invested in a new high-profile Branch and Corporate office space in the heart of downtown Minneapolis. By partnering with American National, we're building on an already meaningful Franchise, giving us more reach with Middle market and business Banking customers. With that, I'll pass it to Derek to talk a little bit more about the financial impact and benefits of this transaction.
Thanks, Andy. Turning to slide eight, this transaction reflects our continued focus on driving strong Financial performance and Shareholder returns. The transaction is expected to deliver 2% of EPS accretion in 2027, with modest tangible book value dilution of 1.2% and a crossover earnback period of 2.25 years. The transaction has a compelling IRR of 24%. We also expect to enhance our Pro-forma profitability, including ROAA, ROATCE, and Efficiency ratio. Underlying this transaction is a highly achievable cost savings assumption of 25% or $29.2 million of American National's expense base, with 50% realized in 2026 and 100% thereafter. This transaction strengthens Associated's balance sheet position and drives prudent scale and relevance as a leading Midwest Banking Franchise. Pro-forma, we will reach approximately $50 billion in assets, with $40 billion in deposits and $35 billion in loans.
As we've consistently said, enhancing our capital position is a focus, and this transaction will drive our CET1 approximately five basis points higher upon closing. We have strong conviction in our ability to deliver on the Financial benefits of this transaction. On slide nine, we provide more detail on the Pro-forma Franchise. American National meaningfully enhances our combined scale, client base, and Balance Sheet strength across the Midwest. Pro-forma, we will have a top 10 Deposit market share position in Green Bay, Madison, Milwaukee, the Twin Cities, and Omaha, and 76% of our deposits will be concentrated within the 10 largest upper Midwest markets. The addition of approximately 79,000 new client Deposit Accounts broadens our reach and creates meaningful opportunities for relationship expansion, particularly among Middle market, Commercial, and Family-owned businesses, which are at the heart of both of our organizations.
On the consumer side, American National adds a very high-quality auto business with more than 25 years of consistent super prime lending throughout the Midwest, providing a strong complement to our diversified Consumer platform and Strategy. On the Funding side, the transaction further strengthens our core deposit base, adding granular relationship-driven deposits and long-tenured client relationships. Together, the combined Franchise will have a strong Liquidity position and Funding stability, providing a solid foundation for continued organic growth and disciplined Balance Sheet management. Associated and American National both share a deep cultural alignment founded on strong community engagement and relationship Banking, which positions our combined company as a premier Midwestern relationship Bank. Turning to slide 10, our combined loan portfolio will continue to be well-diversified and fully consistent with our strategic priorities.
On the Commercial side, American National brings a high-quality middle market Franchise with long-standing Client relationships and strong Credit performance. Similarly, on the Consumer side, this partnership reinforces our focus on strong, risk-adjusted returns through the addition of American National's super prime auto portfolio. The combination enhances our loan yield while maintaining the disciplined credit culture that defines Associated. On the Funding side, the transaction strengthens our core deposit Franchise and broadens our relationship base. Turning to slide 11, as we've said all along, we are focused on our strategic priorities with a prudent and disciplined approach to driving sustainable and profitable growth. Our teams have followed a rigorous due diligence process involving comprehensive and extensive reviews of all the areas you see noted on the right side of slide 11.
We've also completed an extensive credit file review and are highly confident in strong alignment in underwriting and credit cultures between our Organizations. Integration planning is already well underway. We're leveraging our proven playbook from our previous experiences while also building onto it to ensure a seamless transition for our clients and employees alike. Both organizations share a conservative risk appetite, community and client-first values, and a commitment to disciplined growth, making this a rational transaction with meaningful upside. With that, I now pass it back to Andy for closing remarks.
Thanks, Derek. I will conclude by reiterating that we're excited about today's announcement and what it will mean to continue our growth strategies in new and existing growth markets for Associated Bank. I would also like to take the opportunity to welcome our new American National team members to the Associated Bank family. I look forward to meeting all of you, learning from you, and working together to build a stronger, community-focused Bank. With that, let's open it up for questions.
Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question at this time, you may press star one from your telephone keypad, and a confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to withdraw your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. Thank you. Our first question comes from the line of Timur Braziler with Wells Fargo. Please proceed with your questions.
Hi, good morning.
Good morning.
Can you maybe just give us a little update as to what this deal means for the ongoing strategic focus for Associated? First two phases, since Andy, you and the team came over, were very much internally focused. Phase II is coming to an end here. Is this kind of indicating that what you've wanted, the heavy lifting on the kind of organic front, is done, and now that lens is widening to include M&A in the coming phase? Maybe just if you could give us a sneak peek as to what phase III might look like and what that might look like from a composition of organic expansion, additional hiring versus using M&A as a tool for some of these tuck-in deals.
Yeah, Timur, I’d maybe say it a little differently than you did. What I would say with regards to phase II is I feel like we’re just getting started and hitting our stride there. If you think about the fact that we have non-solicitations expiring, we continue to grow very strongly in our C&I business. For me, this is not a detour from organic growth. It’s an enhancement of organic growth. When you think about getting into the Minneapolis market and getting a top 10 position and having Market branding and Visibility, that’s only going to enhance the work that we’re doing there. When you look at the Omaha market, they have a very strong team on the ground on the Commercial side of our business. We have spent almost five years building out our product set.
When you think about equipment Finance, you think about ABL, you think about deposit Verticals, you think about Consumer products, you think about what we're doing on the Wealth side and the Mass affluence side, we literally can take this amazing local team in Omaha and layer our capabilities on that. From an organic growth standpoint, it hasn't changed a thing. There are still legs left in phase II of what we do. Importantly, I think what you see is we've built the team that's built to execute. When you think about execution, this is a very straightforward transition in a few major Metros, two major Metros in particular.
We think we'll be able to effectively integrate this with a team that's culturally aligned. We think it keeps it, if you want to call it phase 2.5, you may. However, this is just good Banking in areas that we understand, and we think that it's something that it'll be a one plus one equals four for us.
Okay, that's great color. Thank you. Maybe as my follow-up, just looking at the credit mark relative to, I guess, the third quarter mark for American, just the 1.9%, I think there's three T markers like 115 of loans. Could you just maybe talk us through where incremental provisioning or incremental reserves have been kind of set aside for their portfolio?
Yeah, it's a great question. I'm going to turn that over to Pat, but before I do, I'll remind you that Pat Ahern, our Chief Credit Officer, is the same person that has executed on the no surprises tour. Going into this deal, we don't want any surprises on credit. We've done a very deep dive, and I'll have Pat speak to how the mark came to be.
Yeah, I would say we did take a conservative approach, and it was a bottoms-up approach to review the portfolio. That included over 50% of the Commercial loans and also over 60% of CRE loans. We feel that we did a nice due diligence. We feel comfortable with the mark. I'll remind you, they've had a pretty stable credit history. They're averaging, I think, 15 basis points of Net charge-off over the last 10 years. We feel good about the mark right now.
Great. Thanks for the questions.
Thank you.
The next questions are from the line of Casey Haire with Autonomous Research. Please proceed with your questions.
Yeah, thanks. Good morning, everyone. I guess wanted to start on the footprint expansion into Omaha and Nebraska. Just I think that's a little bit surprising. What is it about that market that gives you comfort that you guys can take the Associated playbook there? What other markets down the line would be of interest from an M&A perspective?
Yeah, Casey, you say surprising. I say contiguous. When I look at Omaha, I think, what a great Banking market. First of all, its population and Economic growth are extremely strong. When you think about what we've been able to do in our footprint, this market actually grows faster than many of the markets that we're in today. We've been able to grow by taking Market share. We've been able to grow Commercial. We've been able to grow Households. You enter into a market with low unemployment, and you enter into a market with very good growth and being very strong on the Commercial side. What is unique about Omaha that I really like in this transaction is this is a very local Market. By that, I mean it is very civic-oriented, very giving-back-oriented.
You have two amazing families, the Kotouc family and the Lozier family, that have been the owners of this and are incredibly involved both in the Bank and in the Community. If you are going to buy a Bank in Omaha, you better have connectivity to the community, and we do. Secondly, you better have an Operating model that looks at full relationship Banking, and they do. When I think of entering Omaha, a very good contiguous growth market with a lever already into the community vis-à-vis the management and an ongoing relationship with those Owners and a Leadership team that actually expands relationships. We put on top of that products and services on the Consumer side, on the private wealth side, and enhanced verticals and opportunities on the Commercial side. That is what makes this a very attractive transaction or merger for us.
Okay, very good. Just following up on the margins, slide 10, it looks like their Americans are pretty similar to you guys from a loan yield and deposit cost perspective. They are a little bit more liquid. I'm just wondering, do they drive a where does their NIM come in relative to you guys?
Derek, do you want to take that?
Yeah, so their NIM is a little higher than ours, I think, most recent quarter for both institutions. The biggest economic driver of the transactions really are the cost takeouts, but we would expect, I would call it 9, 10, and 11 basis points of yield improvement for ourselves post-transaction.
Great, thank you.
Thank you.
The next questions are from the line of Daniel Tamayo with Raymond James. Please proceed with your questions.
Thank you. Good morning, guys.
Good morning, Daniel.
Yeah, maybe first, I'm just curious, 20% of American National's loan book is auto. You guys are familiar with that business. Maybe give us a sense of how that book compares to yours and your level of comfort around American National's business and plans for the Auto business on a Pro-forma basis going forward.
Yeah, great question, Daniel. When we look at the auto book, the first thing that jumps out to you is they've been in this business for 25 years. They're doing business with people they know and have known for quite some time. From a risk standpoint, this is a super prime portfolio, very much like ours. A lot of similarities, a lot of similarities in the auto book. In fact, they have a little bit better yield than we do. When I think about the auto book for our company, the combined companies overall, we've stated that we want to stay in the 10-12% exposure range for auto. We're right in the middle of that with this transaction. What we've always liked about the auto book is the convexity of the portfolio. These aren't 30-year Mortgages.
They have a duration of two to three years. You can make decisions strategically on flexing that portfolio, and I think American National has over time. I think that we will on the go forward. I think the most important thing is that they're doing business with people they know in a very responsible credit manner and getting a pretty decent return.
All right, thanks. That's helpful, Andy. I guess anything else within the lending space for American National that is other than the C&I and the CRE books that we see there, that's unusual or something that you're not planning to keep going forward just from a balance sheet perspective? Curious if you think that the total loan number is a good one to go off if there's going to be some movement there post-close.
Yeah, I think the thing that's frankly unusual is how strong a credit culture they have. For a Bank this size, their expertise is impressive to me. I feel like it has John Kotouc 's fingerprints all over it. John's run this Bank in whole or in part for over 40 years, and he has a strong sense of keeping control of credit. The cleanness of the files, the expertise they've exhibited in each of the kind of they don't call them Verticals, but Verticals, whether that's CRE or pieces below that. When we look at this book, I think their sophistication and attention to detail for a Bank this size is impressive to us. As a result of that, we don't see anything that we're going to have to exit to keep in line with what our credit culture is.
All right, terrific. Thanks for the color, Andy.
Thank you, Daniel.
Our next questions are from the line of Chris McGratty with KBW. Please proceed with your questions.
Hello, great. Morning.
Good morning.
Andy, just following up on that last question about optimizing the balance sheet, anything beyond the Loan book on either side of the sheet, yours or their company that might be considered heading into 2026 in terms of restructuring or optimizing?
No, not really. What I think, Chris, is more interesting is when you think about how strong they are and knowledgeable they are in the local markets, we actually think for us, we can actually be additive to them. I mean, we have Equipment Finance, ABL, HSA lines of business. We have Capital markets capabilities and a bigger Balance Sheet. We do not have to teach them how to do Commercial Banking. We can just expand the capabilities that are available to them. When the deal closes and we get into integration, we actually only see potential upside to that, but there is no restructuring that will be required on this book.
Okay, great. Just to follow up, I just want to make sure I got the numbers and the messaging right. Derek, you said the 9-11 basis point. That was a margin comment or a loan yield comment?
Yes.
Margin?
NIM, yep. That Interest Margin.
Okay. Perfect. The question about, I think it was Timur's question about future acquisitions, we've seen some peers be able to string a couple together. Is the message that you might consider another deal? I know that organic is the focus. I'm just trying to understand the pivot between the capital usage.
Yeah, not much of a pivot really, Chris. It's the right question, but this is more of a right deal, right partner, right time, right markets situation for us. When you think that it's in our footprint, getting bigger in Minneapolis has always been a stated goal of ours. Being in a growth market, additionally in Omaha, for us, with the work that we've put in and the product set that we have, was natural for us. This really feels more to us like a continuation of our organic growth strategy enhanced by an acquisition as opposed to becoming a serial acquirer. That's not our intent.
Okay. That's very clear. Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next question is from the line of Jared Shaw with Barclays. Please proceed with your questions.
Hey, good morning.
Good morning, Jared.
Is there any lockup for the Shareholders, or could you walk through what the lockup is for the two Shareholders coming on board?
Yeah, Jared, all that information will be made public with the 8K that we'll file at the end of the week. The short answer is yes, there is a lockup.
Okay. Okay. I guess sort of following up on Chris's question about the potential for more deals, I guess, how would you say your, how would you describe your capital priorities for 2026 beyond the organic growth? Is this something we could start to see the buyback be more active given that capital is growing coming out of this deal? How should we think about Capital and Capital deployment?
I always defer to Derek Meyer on all buyback questions because my simple quick answer is when we run out of good ideas, we'll start the buybacks. Right now, we feel like we're doing a deal that's really good from an acquisition standpoint. However, we have a lot of ambitions to continue to grow organically and a lot of ideas in our kind of baseline strategic planning going forward that we think will make very, very good use of capital. If something out of the ordinary would occur in the future that we thought there's a great option and it was in the best benefit of our Shareholders, then we would consider a buyback. It is not priority one, and it is not priority two from my perspective. I said I'd let Derek answer that one, and I always slip up. Derek?
You did well.
Thank you for the affirmation.
Okay. If I could just have one final one. When you look at this expansion into Omaha, is there any plan to supplement that with additional Relationship Manager hiring in that market? Is this a market you feel you could maybe leg into a little bit and continue to take even more Market share there? Or do you feel that the platform that's there is sufficient to do what you need to in the market?
Yeah, it's a little bit too early to talk about staffing. However, if you look at the track record and their ability to grow their Deposit market share, and when you talk to their Local leaders, they have strong Local leaders. My optimism in that market is high. Usually when we find optimism, we find opportunity. We're going to look very closely at what opportunity looks like. We are entering something that is not only not broken, but on an upward trajectory. Marrying what they're doing and how ingrained they are into that Local market, a Growth market, with what we do and the capabilities we've built over the last four to five years, it gives me a great deal of optimism. We didn't make huge bets in the model. We just think that we can be additive with the strength they already have.
Great. Thank you.
Thank you, Jared.
Our next question is from the line of Brian Foran with Truist Securities. Please proceed with your questions.
Hey, good morning. I don't know to the extent you can speak to this. I guess I'm a little surprised this Bank would have traded at such a low tangible book multiple. Was there some challenge they were facing? Was there something unique as a partner? Is it possible at all to speak to just it seems like a really attractive opportunity, and yet they're selling at 1.1 times tangible book. What kind of bridges that gap?
I’d say a few things. First of all, the way they go to market and the book that they have is very similar to us. When you have similarities, that brings comfort. From a cultural alignment standpoint, we’re there. From an understanding of Auto, we’re there. From an idea of going to market locally, I think that we offer that opportunity more than others. Basically, you have two really clean Banks with the promise that we’re going to move forward in the markets that they’re in that they care about, that they’ve built over an extended period of time.
Great. If I could follow up as well on the contiguous question, I mean, I definitely appreciate your points about cultural similarities between the markets. If I just look at slide nine, though, I mean, I think some people simplistically will say, "Well, now something's got to happen in Iowa and Illinois over time." Is physically contiguous important in your mind long-term, or is this a different world and the old days of filling in the branch map doesn't apply?
I think what you really want to do is you want to make sure that you're familiar with the markets and that you understand the markets and you understand the Leadership team. There are no surprises in the Credit book. You like how they go to market, and you like that you have cultural alignment. All of those things tick the check the boxes for us. We know the Midwest. We understand the Midwest. Frankly, I'm familiar in past lives with covering the Omaha market. It's been a good market for a long time. By the way, they're not just in Omaha. They're in Minneapolis and in the Twin Cities.
We really like that footprint. For a Bank like us, we're not intending to go to California. That's not our sweet spot. When we think about this, we are a Midwest Bank, and we want to be in markets that we understand. In this case, it is both Midwest, and we understand it. We thought it was a very logical fit for us.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
The next questions are from the line of Jon Arfstrom with RBC Capital Markets. Please proceed with your questions.
Thanks. Good morning, guys.
Hey, John.
Couple of just clean-up questions. Andy, what are the Revenue synergies that you're thinking about, and how material could they be, and how quickly could they have an impact?
Derek, do you want to touch on that?
Yeah. Yeah. Part of that is a little bit on the too early answer, but you can imagine things like we have a strong private wealth offering. We have talked about that as being important for all the metro areas we are going into. We see that as an opportunity in Omaha also. Same with mass affluent. The whole product offering that comes with our product segmentation and technology on the Consumer side. There could be expansions. I think it was asked earlier, would you put more RMs into a market or anything like that? We have not contemplated that for the deal. As things progress, we would expect to evaluate all of that as incremental opportunities.
John, I would piggyback on that and just say we expect that we can be very strong and enhance what they are already very good at, which is the Commercial side of the book. I would say that the products and services and the digital capabilities that we have on the Consumer Bank are as strong as any Regional, super Regional, or National Bank in the country. To me, that is almost like blue sky for us. Because they have such a good reputation, to be able to marry that Commercial with the consumer, which is what is happening at our company at Associated Bank today, we see a very logical path. If they had relationships where they just did a loan and did not get the deposits, I would not see that immediate opportunity. They actually are getting both. We are going to be able to enhance the Consumer side day one of systems integration.
Okay. I wasn't going to ask this, but I'll ask it since you brought it up. What is the Consumer strategy at the company, the Consumer strategy in Omaha? Or is this just all, in your view, primarily Commercial?
They have a consumer base. When you think about building out that consumer product set, which we've talked about ad nauseam, which we think is the driver of customer sat and household growth and having kind of the key levers of people willing to bring more to you and refer, I would say that this will be an enhancement to that strategy. Their customers like them. When you think about a segmentation strategy on mass affluent, that will be new with the product set that we have that we've just enhanced one week ago and brought to our own company. When you think about layering that on, it's not a matter of whether they have it. They do have a Consumer Bank.
They will have a product set that can go toe to toe with any fintech, any community Bank, any savings and loan, any National Bank on day one. That will be different for them. And because their customers already like them, I think we'll be off to the races once we get through the integration.
Okay. Good. And then just one last one, Derek, for you. The $47 million in charges you're taking at Associated, I don't know if that's a big number or a small number, but anything notable in there, or would you just call that typical Merger charges?
Yeah. Nothing unusual there. It's normal course of business for these types of transactions.
Okay. All right. Thank you.
Thanks, John.
Our next question is from the line of Terry McEvoy with Stephens. Please proceed with your questions.
Morning. This is Brandon Rud for Terry. I have two quick ones. The first one, just a follow-up on the buyback. Does the deal preclude you from repurchases until the deal closes over the next couple of quarters?
It does not.
Does not. Okay. Thank you. The second one, just on page nine, I think St. Louis is the only market there where there is not a top 10 Deposit market share. Can you just discuss opportunities, particularly in the St. Louis market?
What I'd say with regards to the St. Louis market is I'm really excited about Omaha and Minneapolis today. I'd sprinkle Iowa in there as part of this deal. With regards to St. Louis, I would say it's a major Metropolitan market with opportunity. We do not have a significant branch network in the Metropolitan area today, but we do have a pretty decent-sized business in the surrounding areas. The someday machine, could something happen there potentially? We like that market. We are really pretty much outside of the Metropolitan market in St. Louis today from a Retail standpoint. We've been significant in commercial and in Commercial Real Estate there for some time.
Got it. I appreciate you taking my questions. Thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you. At this time, I'll hand the floor back to Andy for further remarks.
The first thing I'll say is thank you for the interest that you've shown both by showing up the day after a holiday weekend and for the very good questions that you had on this. We're excited about this merger, and we are going to quickly go from announcement to execution. We appreciate your interest in the growth story and the organic growth story and how this will piggyback on the growth story and growth markets. Thank you.
Thank you. This will conclude today's conference. We will disconnect your lines at this time. We thank you for your participation. Have a wonderful day.