Peoples Bancorp Inc., parent company of Peoples Bank, announced it has completed its acquisition of Premier Financial Bancorp, Inc. and Premier's wholly owned subsidiaries, Premier Bank, Inc. and Citizens Deposit Bank & Trust, Inc.Peoples and Premier first announced they had entered into an agreement to merge on March 29.

In April, Peoples Bank acquired North Star Leasing, which is now a division of Peoples Bank.

The completed acquisition included the mergers of Premier Bank and Citizens into Peoples Bank. As a result, Premier's 49 office locations throughout Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington D.C., will operate as offices of Peoples Bank. Under the terms of the agreement, shareholders of Premier will receive 0.58 shares of Peoples common stock for each share of Premier common stock.

"We are excited to complete this transaction, which expands our presence in Kentucky and West Virginia and gains us an entry into attractive markets within Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.," said Chuck Sulerzyski, President and Chief Executive Officer of Peoples. "We are thankful for the hard work and dedication of the employees of Premier and Peoples in completing this transaction. In the months ahead, we will begin introducing clients in the Premier communities to our expanded array of products and services, including electronic banking services, investments and retirement planning solutions, insurance, and an increased commercial banking capacity."

At June 30, 2021, Premier had approximately $2.1 billion in total assets, $1.2 billion in total loans and $1.7 billion in total deposits.

Peoples was advised by Raymond James & Associates, Inc. and the law firm of Dinsmore & Shohl LLP. Premier was advised by Piper Sandler Companies and the law firm of Jackson Kelly PLLC.

Peoples is a diversified financial services holding company that makes available a complete line of banking, trust and investment, insurance, premium financing and equipment leasing solutions through its subsidiaries. Peoples has been headquartered in Marietta, OH, since 1902. As of June 30, Peoples had approximately $5.1 billion in total assets and 89 locations, including 76 full-service bank branches, in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky. Peoples is a member of the Russell 3000 index of U.S. publicly-traded companies. Peoples offers services through Peoples Bank (which includes the divisions of Peoples Investments, Peoples Premium Finance and North Star Leasing) and Peoples Insurance Agency, LLC.