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MidWestOne closer to buying Minnesota bank

Business news.(Photo: The Register)

One of the larger Iowa-based banks expects to finish buying a Minnesota banking company sometime in May.

Iowa City-based MidWestOne Financial Group said Friday it has received regulatory approval to merge with Central Bancshares, a Minnesota company that owns Central Bank.

The deal calls for MidWestOne to absorb Central Bank and operate the two as separate entities. Once combined, the new company would hold assets of about $ 3 billion.

For comparison, Bankers Trust is the largest Iowa-based bank by assets with about $ 3.6 billion in assets at the end of 2014.

MidWestOne Financial Group is the parent company of MidWestOne Bank, which had about $ 1.8 billion in assets as of Dec. 31. The bank has 26 locations around Iowa, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Based in Golden Valley, Minn., Central Bank has 22 locations in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Florida.

The MidWestOne-Central Bank deal is still subject to a shareholders vote and other approvals.

Shares of MidWestOne, which trades under the symbol MOFG, were up 11 cents to $ 29.20 in morning trading Monday.