M&A · Financials · Savings Institution, Federally Chartered
First Financial Bancorp to acquire Finward Bancorp
Announced Jul 21, 2026 · Pending Sep 28, 2026
Deal value$208M
Premium32.0%To unaffected price
EV / Adj. EBITDA—
ConsiderationAll stock$47.90 per share
Transaction
- Acquirer
- First Financial Bancorp (FFBC)
- Target
- Finward Bancorp (FNWD)
- Buyer type
- Strategic
- Offer price per share
- $47.90
- Enterprise value
- —
- Status
- Pending Sep 28, 2026
Deal protections
- Break fee (target pays)
- $9.0M · 4.3%
- Reverse fee (buyer pays)
- —
- Go-shop
- No-shop
- Financing
- —
Advisors
- To the acquirer
- Morgan Stanley
- To the target
- Stephens
Sector context · Financials
- Comparable deals
- 77 in the prior 24 months
- Premium
- 32.0% vs. 34.0% sector median
- EV / Adj. EBITDA
- Sector median 13.7x
- Break fee
- 4.3% vs. 3.7% sector median
Timeline
- AnnouncedJul 21, 2026
- Proxy filedSep 28, 2026
- Definitive proxySep 28, 2026
- Shareholder votePending
- ClosedPending
Valuation · fairness opinions
Trading comparables$40.58$52.96
Trading comparables$30.40$32.53
Other analysis$39.55$47.80
Other analysis$27.35$36.64
Other analysis$40.67$56.20
Offer $47.90
Implied value per Finward Bancorp share by analysis · DCF discount rate 13%–14%.