2015 Year in Review No. 3: Metropolitan National secures Ark. suitor, tabs McFatridge

SPRINGFIELD, JUNE 22—Marking its entrance into Missouri, Little Rock, Ark.-based Bear State Financial Inc. (Nasdaq: BSF) penned a deal June 22 to purchase Springfield’s Metropolitan National Bank.

Under the agreement, which closed in October, shareholders of Metropolitan National parent company Marshfield Investment Co. received roughly $70 million, comprising $42 million in Bear State common stock and $28 million in cash.

Through the deal, Bear State acquired Metropolitan’s $442 million in assets, $340 million in loans and $375 million in deposits. The combined company has $2 billion in assets, 55 branches – including Metropolitan’s 12 in southwest Missouri – and four loan production offices.

The announcement comes about a year after Bear State’s acquisition of Hot Springs, Ark.-based First National Security Co., the holding company of First National Bank of Hot Springs and Heritage Bank of Jonesboro. That deal boosted Bear State’s assets by over 160 percent to $1.5 billion.

Metropolitan President and CEO Mark McFatridge said the bank began exploring merger opportunities last year.

“When you look at the rising costs of the regulatory requirements, the rising costs of compliance, information technology, security, product development – that’s really challenging to grow at even a moderate pace from $450 million in assets,” he said. “So, it boiled down to, ‘Do we make an acquisition or do we find a strategic partner?’”

McFatridge was expected to join the Bear State executive team, but in October the bank announced he would be CEO of the entire Little Rock organization.

McFatridge became CEO of Metropolitan in early 2012. The prior year, the bank experienced a $7 million net loss. His first year, it broke even.

By McFatridge’s second year, the bank had positive net income of $500,000 and in 2014 profited nearly $2 million.

Already settled in his Little Rock, Ark., office at Bear State’s headquarters, McFatridge said the banks’ charters would merge in mid-first quarter 2016, and Metropolitan National would then adopt the Bear State moniker.