Forward look: Analysts who cover South Plains believe the company may be ready to return to the M&A market soon.
Expert quote: “This partnership provides needed resources to help accelerate our combined growth, which we believe will drive value for our shareholders that we could not have achieved on our own,” said Bank of Houston CEO Jim Stein. 
Supporting data: South Plains’ most recent completed deal came in 2019, when it agreed to acquire the $429 million-asset West Texas State Bank in Odessa.

Lubbock, Texas-based South Plains Financial has struck a deal to acquire a Houston-based community bank, boosting its profile in the Lone Star State’s biggest city.

South Plains, the holding company for City Bank, agreed to pay $105.1 million in stock to acquire the $772 million-asset BOH Holdings and its bank subsidiary, Bank of Houston. The merged company would have two branches and $643 million of deposits in Houston, making it the 11th largest Texas-headquartered bank in the fast-growing metropolis.

With a population of 7.8 million, the Houston metropolitan area ranks as the fifth largest in the country. Metro Houston’s population is expected to grow by 7.8% between 2025 and 2031, according to the Greater Houston Partnership.

The deal for BOH “will add scale to our existing operations while also bringing longstanding customer relationships to City Bank,” South Plains Chairman and CEO Curtis Griffith said in a press release.

The $4.5 billion-asset South Plains announced the transaction late Monday. 

BOH Chairman and CEO Jim Stein said the merger offers his bankers a wider product set, as well as a supply of low-cost deposits. “This partnership provides needed resources to help accelerate our combined growth, which we believe will drive value for our shareholders that we could not have achieved on our own,” Stein said in the press release.

BOH reported loans totaling $628.8 million on Sept. 30, up 4% from the same time in 2024, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Net income for the first nine months of 2025 totaled $8.2 million, an increase of 42% over the same period last year. 

South Plains’ loan growth was flat in the year ending Sept. 30, 2025.

Upon closing — which is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2026 — Stein is slated to join South Plains and continue leading his team in Houston. Stein will also join the boards of City Bank and South Plains. 

Stephen Scouten, who covers South Plains for Piper Sandler, characterized the deal as a low-risk, reasonably priced transaction that adds to the buyer’s loan-growth potential. “Despite strong credit and profitability, we view loan growth as the final item on our checklist to recognize the path to a higher valuation,” Scouten wrote in a research note. 

According to Scouten, the transaction will result in tangible book value dilution totaling 3.5%. At the same time, earnings accretion in 2027, the first full year of operations for the merged institution, is expected to approach 11%. South Plains is projecting cost savings equal to 25% of BOH’s operating expenses, which totaled $3.8 million in 2024.

Prior to Monday, South Plains’ most recent deal came in 2019, when it agreed to acquire the $429 million-asset West Texas State Bank in Odessa, paying $76 million in cash.

Scouten believes that South Plains could return to the merger-and-acquisition marketplace in relatively short order, writing that the company “could continue to look at other modestly sized acquisitions in the medium-term.”

Over the past year, South Plains has been hiring bankers to boost organic growth while also scouting M&A opportunities, Griffith has said. In October, during a conference call with analysts to discuss third-quarter earnings, Griffith hinted that a deal was close.

“We continue to engage in discussions with potential target banks in our core markets that we believe have the potential to fit our conservative nature and overall culture,” Griffith said at the time.

Banks have been active players in the M&A market in 2025, with 169 merger transactions reported through the end of November for a total volume of $46.1 billion, according to Laurie Havener Hunsicker, senior analyst at the Chicago-based Seaport Research Partners. Deal volume for all of 2024 amounted to $16.5 billion.