Community Bank, NM Bank & Trust to be merged

Dubuque, Iowabased Heartland Financial USA Inc., which owns New Mexico Bank & Trust, is acquiring Community Bancorporation of New Mexico, parent company of Community Bank in Santa Fe.

Heartland announced the all-cash transaction valued at about $11.3 million in a news release.

Under terms of the merger agreement, which has been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies, Community Bank will be merged into New Mexico Bank & Trust.

New Mexico Bank & Trust is a community bank with assets of more than $1.1 billion, and 14 offices in Albuquerque, Los Lunas, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe, Clovis and Portales.

Community Bank was established in 1994 when a group of local investors purchased El Pueblo State Bank in Española.

At the end of 2014, Community Bank had assets of approximately $181 million, loans outstanding of $108 million and deposits of $154 million. In addition to its main office in Santa Fe, it has branch offices in Española, Los Alamos, Tierra Amarilla and Albuquerque.

“We believe our customers will benefit from this merger,” Community Bank President and CEO Anne W. Honstein said in a prepared statement.

Originally a bank and trust company, Heartland has grown over the past 35 years into a publicly traded bank holding company.

It has 86 banking locations in 63 communities in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas and Missouri. It has loan production offices in California, Nevada, Wyoming, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington and Nebraska.

Heartland Chairman and CEO Lynn B. Fuller said Community Bank’s locations will fill in and expand the service area of New Mexico Bank & Trust.

“Community Bank solidifies our presence in Santa Fe while bringing the opportunity to serve new commercial and retail customers in Española and Los Alamos,” he said in a statement.