TUPELO, Miss.-A Mississippi bank will pay $146 million in stock and cash to buy a Texas bank.
Tupelo-based BancorpSouth announced Thursday that it would buy Icon Capital Corp, whose Icon Bank has seven offices and $794 million in assets in the Houston area.
BancorpSouth will pay stock valued at $128.3 million, plus $17.5 million in cash. The move will more than double BancorpSouth's presence in Houston, continuing its westward expansion after it purchased another Texas bank and one in Louisiana late last year.
BancorpSouth tells investors that the merger gives it better access to the fast-growing Houston market.
Icon's top two executives will remain with BancorpSouth after the sale.