Dubuque-based Heartland Financial is adding to its bank holdings. It’s completing a deal to buy a Colorado chain of banks.
Heartland is acquiring Citywide Banks of Colorado in a deal valued at around $211 million. Citywide is headquartered in the Denver suburb of Aurora. Heartland CEO Lynn Fuller says the purchase will make his company more competitive in the rapidly growing Colorado market.
“We’ll be the third largest community bank in the Denver area," he says. "And we’ll be the 11th largest bank in Colorado.”
Fuller says the purchase continues recent expansion by his company.
“We operate in 12 states, we have 10 independent bank charters, and our primary objective is to get each of our 10 bank charters in excess of one billion in total assets,” Fuller says.
Citywide will merge into Heartland’s other wholly owned subsidiary in Colorado, Centennial Bank and Trust. This will result in 29 banks with assets of $2.3 billion. Heartland now owns 121 banks.