UNION PLANTERS SEEKS TO ADD THREE AREA BRANCHES

Union Planters Bank of Southeast Missouri has applied to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for permission to merge three recently acquired First Financial Bank operations into Union Planters Bank of Southeast Missouri, which is headquartered at Cape Girardeau.

The three former First Financial banks -- at Dexter, Ste. Genevieve and Sikeston -- would become Union Planters branch operations.

A required legal notice concerning the merger of the branch banks into the Cape Girardeau operation appeared in Wednesday's Southeast Missourian.

Anyone wanting to comment on the application may file comments in writing with the regional director of the FDIC at its regional office, 2345 Grand Ave., Suite 1300, Kansas City, Mo. 64108.

Financial Bancshares Inc. of St. Louis was acquired by Union Planters Corp., an $11.4 billion multibank holding company headquartered at Memphis, Tenn., this year by an agreement involving a tax-free exchange of stock.

Under terms of the Financial Bancshares-Union Planters agreement, Union Planters Corp. exchanged 1.744 shares of common stock for each common share of Financial Bancshares Inc. Union Planters plans to purchase on the open market approximately 1,220,000 Union Planters common shares of stock to be issued in the transaction.

The acquisition was completed Dec. 1, following regulatory and stockholder review and approval.

Financial Bancshares Inc. operated five banks with 16 banking facilities in Missouri under the names of First Financial Bank of St. Louis; Citizens First Financial Bank, Dexter; First Financial Bank of Southeast Missouri, Sikeston; First Financial Bank of Mississippi County, East Prairie; and First Financial Bank of Ste. Genevieve County, Ste. Genevieve.

Financial Bancshares had four operations in the St. Louis market. They are to become affiliated with Union Planters Bank of St. Louis.

All Financial Bancshares branches except one will remain as they are now, with Ste. Genevieve the exception. "The branches there (from Cape County Bancorporation and Financial Bancshares) will be consolidated into one branch," said a Union Planters spokesman.

The acquisition of First Financial was the second-largest acquisition in Missouri by Union Planters. It assumed operations of the former Capital Bancorporation, a multibank holding company headquartered in Cape Girardeau, on Jan. 1, following a definitive agreement initiated in June 1995.

The Capital acquisition gave Union Planters presence in a number of Missouri cities, including Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Poplar Bluff, Sikeston, Perryville, Ste. Genevieve, Ozark, Ashland, Springfield, Branson, Columbia and St. Louis.

Union Planters Corp. is an $11.4 billion multibank holding company with over 400 offices in Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama and Kentucky.