First Busey Corp. in Champaign, Illinois, said that its chief financial officer has left just as the company is nearing the completion of a transformative acquisition.
The
The abrupt change comes on the eve of Busey’s planned acquisition of CrossFirst Bankshares in Leawood, Kansas. The all-stock transaction, valued at $916.8 million when it was
It’s the eighth largest bank deal announced since the start of 2024. After securing the Federal Reserve’s approval, Busey said in January it expected to close the acquisition on March 1.
Busey said in the regulatory filing that Jones’ departure was not related to the deal..
“Jones’ separation from the company was not related in any way to, and did not involve any disagreement with respect to, the company’s financial reporting or financial condition, operations, or financial policies or practices, including the company’s controls, or the pending acquisition of CrossFirst Bankshares,” Busey said in the filing.
The bank said it’s planning a national search for a replacement, but it would also consider internal candidates. It did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
Under the terms of the separation agreement, Jones will receive cash severance of about $1 million, representing one year base salary, a pro-rated bonus and other compensation.
D.A. Davidson analyst Jeff Rulis said that, after his firm hosted Busey at its Midwest bank conference last week, Jones’ departure “came as a surprise.” He said “the timing of the departure is unique less than one week from the anticipated closing” of the CrossFirst deal.
That noted, Rulis said the CEOs of both CrossFirst and Busey have expressed confidence that their financial expectations for the deal, including earnings accretion and loan growth, are “in line to be delivered or exceeded.”
First Busey has estimated the CrossFirst acquisition would generate earnings per share accretion of approximately 20% in 2026. It has projected cost savings to reach 16% of the target’s operating expenses.
CrossFirst produces loan growth in the 6% to 8% range, executives said when the deal was announced. That was expected to boost First Busey’s loan growth rate from around 3% to 4% up to as much as 6%.
The combination would create a bank with about $17 billion of deposits, $15 billion of loans, and $13 billion of wealth management assets under care. It would have more than
“What Busey brings to CrossFirst is a robust capital foundation, a leading core deposit base and integrated wealth management and payments platforms, and a high level of historical credit discipline and quality,” Busey Chairman and CEO Van Dukeman told analysts during a call shortly after announcing the deal. “We are laser-focused on improving our company’s loan yields with high-quality growth. This is one of the many strings that CrossFirst provides.”
Dukeman would be executive chairman and CEO of the merged company. CrossFirst President and CEO Mike Maddox would become president and executive vice chairman, and he would be in line to succeed Dukeman as CEO about a year after the deal closes, the companies said. Dukeman would remain executive chairman indefinitely.
The combination would expand Busey’s footprint to Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The buyer said the deal would give it entrance to the “high-growth” markets of Kansas City, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Phoenix and Wichita, Kansas.
Busey said its banking unit would remain based in Champaign, but the holding company headquarters would move to Leawood, near Kansas City, because it is a central location for the combined company.