- Key insight: The deal would give Bloomington, Illinois-based HBT Financial a bigger share in Midwestern markets where it already operates.
- What’s at stake: The proposed merger is the latest example of community banks seeking greater scale.
- Forward look: The number of bank M&A deals in 2025, which has already outstripped the totals in each of the last two years, is on pace to surpass the 156 transactions announced in 2022.
Two Illinois community banks plan to merge in a deal that would give the buyer added heft in the central part of the state, as well as in the Chicago and St. Louis metropolitan areas.
HBT Financial said Monday that it will acquire CNB Bank Shares in a $170.2 million cash-and-stock transaction. As a result of the deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, HBT expects its asset size to increase from $5.0 billion to $6.9 billion.
HBT, the parent company of Heartland Bank and Trust, is based in Bloomington, Illinois, which is about 35 miles southeast of Peoria. The company’s footprint includes Central Illinois, Eastern Iowa and the Chicago region.
CNB, the parent of CNB Bank & Trust, is headquartered in Carlinville, Illinois, which is about 60 miles northeast of St. Louis. Its branches are mainly in Central Illinois, though it also has a few locations in the St. Louis and Chicago areas.
“Both our banks have strong local roots in Central Illinois, have successfully expanded to larger growth markets, have excellent deposit bases and solid commercial loan growth. We have both grown our business, while maintaining a strong credit culture,” HBT President and CEO J. Lance Carter said in a press release.
Analysts at Piper Sandler wrote in a research note that CNB is much like HBT, in that it has a “top tier deposit base” that reflects “strong community ties” and a “loyal client base.” The Piper Sandler analysts described CNB’s profitability over the last five years as “solid.”
“We expect a relatively seamless integration,” the analysts wrote, pointing to what they described as the buyer’s successful history of making acquisitions. HBT has been part of 11 mergers over the last 18 years.
“Overall, we believe this deal includes various highly attractive strategic merits to improve HBT’s franchise value,” the Piper Sandler analysts wrote.
Shares in HBT were up 4.2% in late-afternoon trading Monday, following both the merger announcement and HBT’s release of its third-quarter earnings report. The company reported quarterly net income of $19.8 million, up 8.8% from the same period one year earlier.
Through Oct. 17, 140 U.S. bank merger deals have been announced, which is more than the 129 deals announced all of last year and the 102 transactions announced in 2023, according to a note by Laurie Havener Hunsicker, an analyst at Seaport Research Partners.
With more than two months remaining in 2025, the number of deals is on pace to eclipse the 156 transactions announced in 2022.
The HBT-CNB merger has been unanimously ratified by the two companies’ boards of directors, but it still needs the approval of regulators and CNB’s shareholders. Investors representing 28% of CNB’s outstanding common shares have agreed to vote in favor of the transaction, the two companies said.
When the deal closes, CNB shareholders are expected to own 15% of HBT’s outstanding common stock. CNB directors Jim Ashworth and Nancy Ruyle will join HBT’s board, according to the transaction’s terms.
Ashworth, who is president of CNB Bank Shares, said in the press release that his bank “has always believed in the enduring strength of community banking, and joining HBT positions us to continue that mission with expanded capabilities and a broader foundation for future growth.”