[Vision2020] American West Bank on the move

[Tom Ivie]

So, did you say all of that just to slip in that last
sentence?  Or are you giving us some financial advice?
 If the intent is financial advice, I would be curious
(as a past shareholder who bought low and sold what I
felt was high at the time) how FirstBank Northwest
compares.  I really feel that you would be hard
pressed in this day of mergers and acquisitions to
find a true "local community bank".  Possibly, the
difference could be how a bank treats it's "local"
customers.  Could you explain to us  (compare and
contrast) the two types of businesses (super center
vs. banking enterprise)?  An observation of mine is
that although banks tend to merge with or be bought
out by other financial instutions, I have yet to see
one come into a town and years later build a bigger
bank and shut down the old one (never to use the
building again).  Also, I don't think I have ever seen
one bank put another one out of business in a town. 
Please, please tell me where I can get predatory
pricing on interest rates in order to gain my
business! 

--- Jeff Harkins <jeffh at moscow.com> wrote:

> 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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>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
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