MEMPHIS BANK BUYS CAPITAL

Capital Bancorporation Inc., a multibank holding company headquartered in Cape Girardeau, has announced an agreement to sell to Union Planters Corp. of Memphis, Tenn.

The banking company, the second ever founded in Cape Girardeau County, more than a century ago, under the banner of Cape County Bank, operates 31 facilities through five subsidiary banks in Southeast, central and eastern Missouri and northern Arkansas.

Under the agreement, announced Tuesday by Union Planters Chairman Benjamin W. Rawlins Jr., and Capital Bancorporation president and CEO Van H. Puls, Union will acquire all of Capital's outstanding stock in a transaction valued of about $114 million.

Under the agreement, Union will exchange 1.185 shares of common stock for each common share of Capital. The acquisition, expected to be completed during the first quarter of 1996, is subject to approval by shareholders and various regulatory agencies.

"Union Planters is a quality organization that, like Capital, has grown from the community banking concept," Puls said. "I am confident that Union Planters will develop a sense of partnership with Capital's customer base, employees, stockholders and communities."

The acquisition, Rawlins said, "is an excellent opportunity for our shareholders to extend our banking franchise into the state of Missouri. Capital's geography is very complementary to our own existing banking locations in Tennessee and Arkansas. Over half of Capital's assets are in Southeast Missouri."

The acquisition also leaves South East Missouri Bank as the only bank headquartered in Cape Girardeau.

Capital Bancorporation operates 31 locations through six affiliate banks in Missouri. Three of the Capital banks are in Southeast Missouri -- Cape Girardeau, Sikeston and Perryville -- one in Columbia; one in the St. Louis suburbs and one In Springfield.

As of March 31, Capital's assets were about $982 million, with loans of $778 million, deposits of $863 million and shareholders' equity of $76 million.

"But, we have now topped the billion-dollar mark," Puls said.

The company employs more than 550 people, with about 300 of them in the Southeast Missouri area.

"We have 177 people in Cape Girardeau County," Puls said. Other totals reveal 56 employed by the holding company, 34 at Perryville and 29 at Sikeston.

Union is a $9.7 billion multibank holding company, with 38 subsidiary banks and 375 banking facilities in Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama and Kentucky.

Capital Bank was organized May 15, 1888, as Cape County Savings Bank.

The bank, organized by J.E. Franklin and Charles Welling, was in a building at South High and Main Streets in Jackson.

The bank's organizers prepared themselves against potential holdups by installing an alarm system that, when activated, sounded a bell in a barbershop above the bank. Downstairs, as an added safety measure, tellers kept pistols tucked inside their cash drawers.

Franklin was the first president. Other founders included J.H. Schaefer, J.B. Shaner, F. Tiedemann, W.H. Miller, H.W. Howard and S.D. Williams.

Cape County Bank wasn't the first locally owned bank in Cape Girardeau County, but it is the only one that has survived the fiscal roller coaster of inflation, deflation, ping-pong interest rates and increased competition.

Sturdivant Bank, which operated for more than six decades, was the first local bank in Cape Girardeau. Its expected longevity, however, was cut short by the Depression.

The Capital Bank has a distinguished history. During its first 100-plus years it has had only 11 presidents.

Franklin, the first president and one of the founders, served as president from 1888 to 1894. Two presidents served for 20 years or longer - W. H. Miller, the second man in the highest position, served from 1894 to 1914, and Louis H. Schrader, who became president in 1950 and served until 1975.

Puls became president in 1984 when his father, Edwin R. Puls, retired. The younger Puls' grandfather, Henry Puls, also served as president, from 1940-1950.

In 1907, the bank changed its name to Cape County Savings and remained that until 70 years later when it once again became Cape County Bank.

Through the Depression years, many banks failed, but Cape County had few large real estate loans and thus weathered the Depression. Expansion became a trademark with the firm in the 1920s. The bank purchased the Olive Building, which housed a restaurant, and expanded. The first of several bank acquisitions took place in 1928, when it acquired the Peoples National Bank. During the early 1930s, it acquired the Bank of Pocahontas.

The Cape County Bank of Cape Girardeau was chartered in 1983, and the bank holding company, County Bancorporation, Inc., was founded.

Other acquisitions have included First National Bank of Perryville and Clayton-based Capital Bank and Trust, First Federal Savings & Loan of Southeast Missouri and, only recently, Magna Bank of Southern Missouri.

The bank changed from Cape County to Capital Bank in 1988, and from Cape County Bancorporation to Capital Bancorporation.

Eight banks now operate in Cape Girardeau. They are Capital Bank; Boatmen's Bank, 2001 William, headquartered at St. Louis; Mercantile Bank, 325 N. Kingshighway, headquartered in St. Louis; South East Bank, 111 S. Broadview, headquartered in Cape Girardeau; AmeriFirst Bank, 3060 William, (purchased by Mercantile); First National Bank, 2027 Broadway, headquartered in Sikeston; Commerce Bank, 160 S. Broadview, headquartered at St. Louis, and Roosevelt Bank, headquartered at Chesterfield.

BANK BUYOUT

There are 38 affiliate banks with 380 offices among Union Planters Corp.'s affiliate banks in its six-state market. They include:

26 banks with 87 offices in Tennessee

3 banks with 124 offices in Mississippi

6 banks with 34 offices in Arkansas

1 bank with 15 offices in Louisiana

1 bank with 7 offices in Alabama

1 bank with 5 offices in Kentucky

Total assets exceed $10 billion.

Capital Bancorporation has five affiliate banks with 31 offices in Southeast Missouri. They include:

Capital Bank of Cape Girardeau County with 10 branches in Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Poplar Bluff, Sikeston, Perryville, Ozark, Ashland, Springfield and Branson.

Capital Bank of Sikeston with 2 offices

Capital Bank of Perryville with 2 offices

Capital Bank & Trust with 5 offices

Capital Bank of Southwest Missouri with 6 Springfield offices, 2 Ozark offices and 4 Branson offices.

Total assets exceed $1 billion.

Total employment is 550, with 177 employees in Cape Girardeau County and 296 in Southeast Missouri.