Banner Bank to acquire this community bank to expand presence in Western Washington

Banner Bank is about to get bigger, expanding its presence on the I-5 corridor.

The company announced on Wednesday that it was buying Skagit Bancorp., which operates two Skagit Bank branches in Bellingham and one in Lynden. The acquisition is worth about $191.1 million, according to a news release from Banner Bank. The sale is subject to the approval of Skagit shareholders and is expected to close at the end of this year.

Cheryl Bishop, Skagit’s CEO, will join the Banner board of directors.

At the end of June Skagit Bank had assets of $922 million. Skagit Bank had $72 million in deposits in Whatcom County in June 2017, ranking it 13th out of 14 commercial banks that have branches in this area, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Banner Bank currently has three Bellingham branches and one each in Ferndale, Blaine, Lynden and Point Roberts. In June 2017 it had $241 million in deposits, ranking it eighth out of the 14 commercial banks that have branches in Whatcom. It is based in Walla Walla.

In the news release, Bishop said Banner is an excellent fit for Skagit Bank.

“We look forward to working with the management team at Banner Bank to expand the scope of our products and services to even better serve Northwest Washington residents and businesses,” Bishop said in the news release.