Houston Business Journal – by Casey Wooten and Greg Barr

Prosperity Bancshares Inc. has announced plans to acquire three Texas branches of U.S. Bank, including one in Houston.

The local bank in the deal is North Houston Bank. The capital-starved bank held $325.5 million worth of assets at the end of September 2009, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data. The bank posted a loss of $25 million for the same period.

Houston-based Prosperity (NASDAQ: PRSP) will pay a premium for approximately $420 million in deposits, as well as loans and other assets to Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank. U.S. Bank is a subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB).

U.S. Bank acquired North Houston Bank as well as two smaller rural Texas banks — Madisonville State Bank and Citizens National Bank, based in Teague — in October 2009 in an FDIC-assisted transaction in which U.S. Bank acquired nine banks in several states operated by Illinois-based FBOP Corp., which purchased North Houston Bank in 1995.

However, U.S. Bank made the decision in early December to sell the branches. A bank spokesman said at the time that, after further assessment since the acquisition, the branches were not the right strategic fit.

Houston BizJournals.com