First Financial Bancorp to buy 17 Peoples Community branches

The struggling Peoples Community Bancorp has found a suitor ??? First Financial Bancorp, which said Monday it will buy 17 of Peoples??? 19 branches in Greater Cincinnati and southeastern Indiana.

First Financial will pay about $12 million for the branches, assuming about $310 million in deposits and about $260 million in loans. The bank said in a news release that the loan portfolio consists of residential real estate loans, none of which are more than 30 days delinquent.

Cincinnati-based First Financial (NASDAQ: FFBC) is the sixth-largest bank in the Dayton area with $1.18 billion in deposits, 30 branches and 500 local employees.

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In Southwest Ohio, First Financial will acquire eight branches in Hamilton County, three in Butler County and two in Warren County. In southeastern Indiana, it will acquire three branches in Dearborn County and one in Ohio County. The branches will begin operating under the First Financial name as soon as the sale closes.

West Chester-based Peoples will continue to own and operate two branches in Lebanon and retain about $325 million in assets.

Claude Davis, president of First Financial, said the acquisition will double the bank???s branches in the Greater Cincinnati market.

???The addition of these banking centers is a natural extension of our existing network and presents an excellent opportunity to extend First Financial Bank products and services to a larger client base,??? Davis said in the release.

The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval, will add about 6 cents per share on a cash basis in 2010, First Financial said.

Peoples (NASDAQ: PCBI) had been given until July 14 by the Office of Thrift Supervision to shore up its capital base, either by merging with a larger bank, or liquidating its assets. The federally chartered savings bank, which got into trouble with nonperforming construction and development loans, has posted a string of quarterly losses. In first-quarter 2009, it reported a loss of $4.4 million, with net interest income of $1.5 million.