Little effect seen with bank buy

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

April 25, 1997

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

The recent buyout of International Bancorporation by Norwest Corp. will have little effect on the 15 northern Minnesota banks included in the deal, says John Berg, Norwest's regional president.

Norwest announced the acquisition of International Bancorporation last week, and finalization of the buyout should be completed by the fourth quarter of 1997, Berg said.

International Bancorporation is a bank holding company based in Golden Valley, Minn., with $507 million in assets. Norwest has $10.7 billion in assets in Minnesota and 367 facilities.

Under the deal, Norwest will acquire 15 Northern National banks in Baudette, Baxter, Bemidji, Blackduck, Brainerd, Carlton, Cloquet, Erhard, International Falls, Ironton, Littlefork, Pelican Rapids and Pequot Lakes. There are two Northern National branches in both Bemidji and Brainerd.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval and approval by shareholders of International Bancorporation -- all of which should be completed by the fourth business quarter, Berg said.

After the deal is finalized, the 15 banks will probably be renamed Norwest banks, he said.

There are no plans to close banks or change management at the local level, he said. But there will probably be changes made when "natural" opportunities, such as resignations, occur.

"Our focus is on community banks, and International Bancorporation represented very nice communities with community banks," Berg said of the deal. "It fit very well with our strategy."

In Minnesota, Norwest has $10.7 billion in assets and 367 stores, including 131 banking stores, 53 Norwest Mortgage stores, 33 Norwest Financial stores, 107 Norwest Investment Services Inc. locations, 11 Norwest Insurance locations and nine Investment Management and Trust locations.

Norwest is an international company with $83.6 billion in assets, and has 3,642 stores in all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean and Central America.