Bank First stock dropped after the $203 million PSB deal, as some on Wall Street showed concern over the deal’s potential impact. New York, May 26, 2026, 16:05 (EDT)
Bank First Corp (BFC.O) fell 0.4% to $141.32 as of 3:50 p.m. EDT Tuesday on the Nasdaq, trailing gains in other regional banks. Investors sold the stock after the company announced an all-share deal to buy PSB Holdings Inc. Bank First’s market cap is about $1.58 billion.
Bank First is going with an all-stock deal, giving PSB holders 0.3470 of its shares for each PSB share. That puts the trade at about $49.04 a share using Tuesday’s late price, around $199.6 million total. That’s less than the $202.9 million headline number Bank First gave earlier using its May 18 close of $143.66.
The underperformance was clear. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF climbed 1.0%. Wisconsin banks did better, with Associated Banc-Corp up 0.7% and Nicolet Bankshares gaining 2.0% late in the session.
Bank First said on May 19 it reached a deal to buy PSB. The acquisition would give Bank First access to north central Wisconsin and the Milwaukee area, plus Peoples State Bank’s 12 branches. The two groups together would have about $7.6 billion in assets, $5.64 billion in loans and $6.27 billion in deposits as of March 31.
Mike Molepske, chairman and CEO at Bank First, said the deal combines two lenders focused on “relationship-based banking.” Scott Cattanach, Peoples president and CEO, called Bank First “an ideal partner” for more scale and more services, but with local decisions sticking around.
Bank First is pushing ahead with another deal after a stretch of fast growth. The company closed its Centre 1 Bancorp buyout on Jan. 1. First-quarter net income came in at $20.0 million, or $1.78 a share. Adjusted net income, which leaves out one-time acquisition charges and gains from asset sales, was $25.1 million, or $2.24 per share. Net interest income rose to $53.2 million.
Bank First remains on the small side for public banks, but it’s not exactly a minnow. The company runs 38 branches in Wisconsin and Illinois, and provides lending, deposit, treasury management, trust and wealth-management services. Assets stood around $6 billion ahead of the PSB deal.
The deal comes with clear risks. It still needs regulators and PSB shareholders to sign off. Bank First has cautioned cost cuts or new revenue may not show up soon, integration could be tougher or pricier, and new share sales could dilute current holders. If Bank First’s stock keeps falling, that will keep eating into what PSB holders get before the deal closes.
Bank First shares are trading with a small discount to the deal price, but nothing like a major break. The stock was roughly 1.6% under the May 18 level set in the PSB merger math. That’s not a big spread, but it keeps the numbers moving as the market trades day to day.
