Federal Reserve Board approves $1.4 billion Chemical-Talmer deal

MIDLAND — Chemical Financial Corp.’s $1.4 billion acquisition of Talmer Bancorp Inc. heads to a close this fall after securing approval from federal regulators.

The Federal Reserve Board on Monday approved the deal, which would create the largest bank headquartered in Michigan with $16 billion in assets. The combined bank would have $12.8 billion in total deposits and hold a 5.7-percent share of the statewide deposit market, ranking third in Michigan.

The Midland-based Chemical Financial (Nasdaq: CHFC) will close an existing Talmer Bank & Trust branch on Eighth Street Holland, plus offices in Flint and Port Hope, and transfer their deposits to nearby Chemical Bank offices, according to the Federal Reserve Board order approving the merger. The closing of Talmer’s Holland branch would leave Chemical with four offices in the market.

Chemical Financial also plans to consolidate four Talmer Bank & Trust offices in Michigan with Chemical Bank branches that are just 1,000 feet away, and sell two Talmer offices in Las Vegas and Chicago.

In late July, Chemical Financial Chairman and CEO David Ramaker told investors in a conference call to discuss quarterly results that he expects the deal to close late in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter. The integration of the two banks and their I.T. systems, plus a name change for the Talmer offices, would occur the second weekend of November, Ramaker said.

Under terms of the deal, Talmer shareholders would receive $1.61 in cash and 0.4725 shares of Chemical Financial stock for each of their shares.

The merger will give Chemical Financial some 260 offices, mostly in Michigan and northeast Ohio.

Troy-based Talmer Bancorp (Nasdaq: TLMR) has 49 branches in Michigan, plus 27 in Ohio, one in Illinois, two in Indiana, and one in Nevada. In West Michigan, existing Talmer Bank & Trust branches are in Grand Rapids, Portage, Holland, Muskegon and Grand Haven from when it bought the assets of Michigan Commerce Bank in early 2014 from the bankrupt Capital Bancorp in Lansing.