BOK Financial and CoBiz will merge

Oklahoma’s BOK Financial Corp., will acquire Denver’s CoBiz Fianancial for $1 billion later this year, expanding its presence in Colorado and Arizona.

The $3.8 billion CoBiz Bank operates 12 branches in the front Range and Vail areas under the Business Bank of Colorado name and four branches in the Phoenix area as Business Bank of Arizona. CoBiz has specialty lending lines of business including healthcare and public finance, and fee-generating businesses including wealth management and commercial insurance.

BOK’s subsidiary bank BOKF, NA, operates 12 locations as Colorado State Bank and Trust in the Denver and Boulder metro areas and four offices as Bank of Arizona in the Phoenix area.

After the deal closes in the fourth quarter, BOK will have $37 billion in assets, and will move to CoBiz Chairman and CEO Steve Bangert will join the BOK Financial board at that time. The Tulsa company will improve it deposit share in both Colorado and Arizona to 7th and 11th respectively, according to a management presentation.

“CoBiz is a perfect fit as a merger partner for BOK Financial,” said Steven G. Bradshaw, president and CEO of the $33 billion BOK Financial. “Steve Bangert and his team have built a well-respected commercially-focused bank that has consistently grown shareholder value, with a strong credit culture and differentiated approach to business banking. The two banks have enjoyed a close relationship for almost two decades, and both franchises will benefit as a result of this partnership.”

BOK Financial expects the acquisition to be 6 percent accretive to earnings in 2019 and 9 percent accretive to earnings in 2020.

Goldman Sachs served as financial advisor, and Frederic Dorwart, Lawyers PLLC served as legal advisor to BOK Financial. BofA Merrill Lynch served as financial advisor, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett served as legal advisor to CoBiz.

This is the second major Colorado acquisition within the past month. Texas-based Independent Bank Group, Inc., signed a merger deal with Denver’s Guaranty Bank & Trust in late May.