[Vision2020] American West Bank on the move

[Jeff Harkins]

For those interested in knowing more about this "local community 
bank" - you might want to visit this link:

http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/invsub/ownership/ownership.asp?Symbol=AWBC

You might find it interesting to note that about 34 % of the 
outstanding stock is held by large institutions.
It does appear that their growth model (business model) is to acquire 
small "really local" banks.
 From what I can glean, it went public in 1995 or so, with 10 
"financial centers".  It has grown to 40 financial centers in 10 
years. Below are two of the more recent acquisitions.

AmericanWest Bancorporation Announces Agreement To Acquire Columbia 
Trust BancorpNovember 30, 2005
AmericanWest Bancorporation and Columbia Trust Bancorp jointly 
announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement pursuant 
to which AmericanWest Bancorp will acquire Columbia Trust Bancorp, 
the holding company for Columbia Trust Bank, based in Pasco, 
Washington, in a transaction valued at $37.75 million or $45.70 per 
Columbia Trust Bancorp share. Closing on this transaction is expected 
during the last half of the first quarter of 2006. Columbia Trust 
shareholders may elect to exchange each share held for cash or stock, 
although elections may be in the proration to achieve the targeted 
stock-cash split of 50%-50%. After completion of the holding company 
merger, Columbia Trust Bank will be operated as a division of 
AmericanWest Bank until integration is completed, at which time it 
will be merged into AmericanWest Bank.

AmericanWest Bancorporation Completes Merger with Latah 
BancorporationAugust 02, 2002


AmericanWest Bancorporation announced the completion of its merger 
with Latah Bancorporation, Inc. of Latah, Washington. AmericanWest 
will pay $21.22 cash and .5192 of a share of its stock for each Latah 
Bancorporation, Inc. share.


It is a business that seems to recognize that in order for the 
business to prosper, it must grow.  And it has done some good growing 
the past decade.  It is rated as 7/10 on the Forbes index (a bit 
better than the average in its class), but it does not appear to be 
paying dividends at the present time.
If your interests in the financial markets are focused on the 
Northwest, it does appear to have some appeal.  It may be a good 
prospect for merger itself!
However, be cautioned, it does have financial centers in a lot of 
towns with WalMart Supercenters, e.g., Spokane, Colville, Kennewick, 
Sunnyside, Moses Lake, Yakima and Ephrata -  to name a few.

Cheers. 
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