Reno bank bought by Utah company

The deal makes Salt Lake City-based Zions, which owns Nevada State Bank, the No. 3 bank in Nevada, trailing only Bank of America and Wells Fargo in deposits.

Pioneer's 13 branches, including five in northern Nevada, will become part of Nevada State Bank under the deal. Nevada State Bank operates 45 branches across the state. The combined bank will be based in Las Vegas.

The acquisition is the latest in a series of buyouts of local banks that has left Heritage Bank, which operates a single branch in Reno, as the last remaining locally owned bank.

"We always said we would remain fiercely independent, but we are a public corporation," said William Martin, Pioneer Citizens' president and chief executive officer. "We just plain made some (shareholders) rich. It was a nosebleed price."

Zions will pay $35.70 for each share of Pioneer stock, an offer worth five times the book value of Pioneer's stock at the end of the first quarter. Pioneer shares rose 75 cents to $31 on Friday, while Zions shares were up $2 to $64.50.

A Pioneer shareholder who purchased $90,000 in stock in 1989 would get $3.2 million at the close of the deal, Martin said.

No northern Nevada branches will be closed, but three or four branches in the Las Vegas area are expected to close, Martin added.

Some employees will be laid off as the banks trim about 15 percent of operational and administration costs.

But most job cuts will involve administrative positions, Martin said.

The deal, expected to close in the third quarter of this year, still must be approved by state regulators and shareholders.

Zions also operates full-service banks in Utah, Arizona, California, Idaho, New Mexico and Colorado.

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