Vista Bank Texas and CommunityBank of Texas have agreed to a merger of equals, creating a $2.3 billion-asset financial institution in coveted, high-growth Houston, executives told the Houston Business Journal on Thursday. The merger would create one of the largest privately owned community banks in the Houston area, making it a tempting acquisition target for out-of-state banks or positioning it to make an initial public offering in future years - it would certainly allow the bank to compete harder against larger local financial entities, said Dan Bass, Houston managing director of Performance Trust Capital Partners. "I think what this tells you is this is not a group of shareholders that is done with banking, packing it in and leaving the industry - this is truly a long-term play of putting two banks together," Bass said.
