First Busey Corporation, holding company of Busey Bank, Champaign, Illinois, is acquiring CrossFirst Bankshares Inc., holding company for CrossFirst Bank, Leawood, Kansas, in a merger transaction announced on Aug. 27 and valued at $916.8 million. Pending regulatory approvals, the transaction is anticipated to close in the first or second quarter of 2025 with the merged banks operating under the Busey Bank name by mid-year. The combined company will have approximately $20 billion in total assets, approximately $17 billion in total deposits, $15 billion in total loans and approximately $13 billion in wealth management assets under care, expanding Busey’s footprint into Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Busey and CrossFirst have navigated 11 combined mergers and integrations since 2013, including Busey’s acquisition earlier this year of Merchants & Manufacturers Bank, Joliet, Illinois.
