CANFIELD — When Farmers National Banc Corp. completes its acquisition of Cortland Bancorp Inc., presumably sometime in the fourth quarter of this year, it expands the Canfield-based financial institution into uncharted territories of suburban Cleveland and Akron.

At $124 million, it also marks the largest transaction for the corporation that has acquired nine banks, insurance companies or wealth management agencies since 2008.

When it’s all said and done, Farmers, the holding company of Farmers National Bank of Canfield, will have approximately $4.1 billion in assets and 48 locations in Ohio and western Pennsylvania, including Portage and Summit counties, markets where Farmers is looking to combine its mortgage team with Cortland Bank and introduce Farmers’ wealth management services.

Commercial and consumer loans also offer growth opportunity.

“We’ve got a lot of opportunities. We love Trumbull County and also Cortland Bank has done a wonderful job expanding outside of the Mahoning Valley,” said Kevin J. Helmick, Farmers’ president / CEO. “One of the really intriguing parts of this is they have good branches in Strongsville, in Hudson. They have a really strong mortgage production office in Fairlawn, too. Those will be new markets for Farmers.”

What also drew Farmers to Cortland Bank was its company, from its board to management team to employees and customer base, Helmick said.

“These are banks and executive teams that have known each other for 10, 20 years. We’ve competed and been friends,” he said. “Through the pandemic we relied on one another for best practices and things like that … We just think it’s going to be a really effective transaction.”

Regulatory approval will happen over the next 90 to 120 days. After the transaction closes, Farmers will integrate Cortland Bank’s operating system into its own sometime in the first quarter of 2022 and then start to rebrand Cortland Bank’s branch and other offices under the Farmers name.

Firms that specialize in integration have been brought on and will work with Farmers’ integration team to make the transition for Cortland Bank’s customers and employees to Farmers as seamless as possible.

The banking companies announced the pending acquisition Wednesday.

Under the agreement, each Cortland Bank shareholder may elect to receive either $28 per share in cash or 1.75 shares of Farmers’ common stock, subject to an overall limitation of 75 percent of the shares being exchanged for Farmers shares and 25 percent for cash.

At the close of the transaction, James M. Gasior, Cortland Bancorp Inc.’s president and CEO, will join the Farmers executive team as senior executive vice president and corporate development officer.

Timothy Carney, Cortland’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, will join Farmers as senior executive vice president and chief banking officer. Farmers intends to name two directors from Cortland’s board to join its board of directors.

“The combination with Farmers is a natural one. Our similar cultures and operating philosophies will help us deliver value and liquidity to our shareholders while enhancing the products we can offer our customers,” Gasior said.

It also intends to bring in other Cortland Bank employees into the Farmers’ fold, something it has done in the several of the more recent acquisitions.

“Farmers has about 470 employees right now, so we always have openings and what we are really hoping is that many of the Cortland employees that maybe would have been displaced if an out-of-town bank had purchased them, maybe those people can hook on with an in-market role with us,” Helmick said. “It’s really hard to pin down a number, but we are going to do everything we can to bring over as many people as we can.”

rselak@tribtoday.com