With flick of a pen Wednesday afternoon, State Bank and TrustCompany of Brookhaven and The Valley Bank, based in Greenwood,formally completed a merger that combines the two organizationsinto the sixth largest state bank in Mississippi.

With flick of a pen Wednesday afternoon, State Bank and TrustCompany of Brookhaven and The Valley Bank, based in Greenwood,formally completed a merger that combines the two organizationsinto the sixth largest state bank in Mississippi.

Bank officials also announced further expansion plans in thesouthwest Mississippi area.

The new bank will be called State Bank and Trust company and hasassets exceeding $500 million.

“This merger makes State Bank and Trust Company the sixthlargest state bank in Mississippi,” said Stewart M. Brumfield,chairman and CEO of the new State Bank. “It affords us theopportunity to become one of the largest and most profitablefinancial institutions in the state.”

State Bank will have 20 full-service offices in Mississippi fromthe Tennessee state line to the Louisiana state line, including3,000 surcharge-free ATM locations across the South.

“This merger of equals is the first in a series of steps the newinstitution is taking to become the predominant state bank inMississippi,” Brumfield said. Additional acquisitions are in theworks, and he pointed to success of the newly opened branch inMcComb as an example of the aggressiveness of the new organization.”In just five-short weeks, our bank in McComb is already aprofitable 15 million dollar bank,” he said.

According to Valerie Mills, chairman of the board emeritus ofState Bank, the two banks being considered for acquisition arelocated in the southwest Mississippi area and, if negotiations aresuccessful, will come under the Brookhaven operations.

Mrs. Mills also said that if negotiations fail to materialize,the bank is also looking at several communities to open “de novo,”or new banking operations.

Brookhaven will become the operations center for the southernhalf of the state, and Greenwood will be come the operations centerfor the northern half of the state.

Owen Carty will be named the President and CEO of the southernoperations, and Jim Conway will be named President and CEO of thenorthern operations.

Mark Williamson, CEO of the original State Bank, will named theChief Administrative Officer of the new State Bank.

The board of directors of the new bank, carried over from theoriginal State Bank, will include Mark Williamson, Owen Carty, JohnNeville, Ralph Peeples, Alvin Smith, David Phillips, Jim Elliottand Bill Jacobs.

They will join Valley Bank board members, Stewart M. Brumfield,Dr. S.R. Evans Jr., Doris C. Brumfield, Danny Abraham, Lee Abraham,Freddie K. Barnett, James E. Conway, Dr. Fred L. McMillan, JackNowell, James L. Quinn, Dr. Paul Warrington, Herb E. Stathes andMike Upchruch as the directors of the new bank.