First Arkansas B&T plans Heber Springs bank buy.

First Arkansas Bancshares Inc. of Jacksonville has announced a deal to acquire Greets Ferry Lake State Bank of Heber Springs and merge it into First Arkansas Bank & Trust.

Greers Ferry Lake State Bank, which had $63 million in assets as of March 31 and net income of $560,000 in 2007, is owned by M&P Community Bancshares of Newport, which also owns Merchants & Planters Bank of Newport.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Jim Gowen Sr., chairman and CEO of M&P, said the sale would provide shareholders with a "substantial return."

Gowen's written statement also said the sale would allow M&P to expand Merchant & Planters Bank into "interested markets that mirror the focus and profile" of the Newport bank.

Merchants & Planters has assets of about $173 million.

The largest investor in M&P Community Bancshares is the employee stock ownership plan, according to Sheridan Cole, marketing and business development officer. Other investors, according to Cole, include members of the board of directors: Gowen, Jim S. Gowen Jr., Tom Kurtner, Terry L. Dillon, Mary K. Stewart, Terry L. Scoggins, Dr. Larry Williams, Roger Bowman and R.M. Bledsoe.