By Jim Hagerty
Contributor

ROCKFORD — The acquisition of Alpine Bank by Midland States Bancorp is complete, officials announced this week.

Midland announced last fall that it was under contract to buy Alpine Bancorporation, Inc., including Alpine Bank & Trust, for $181 million and stock. With the deal, Midland’s assets are now $5.7 billion, including the $3.1 billion managed by Midland Wealth Management.

Alpine’s history dates back to 1908, when Farmers State Bank was chartered in Belvidere. The company, at the direction of Hugh Funderberg, later acquired a number of small institutions including Peoples Bank, Cherry Valley Bank and the Bank of Kirkland. Along the way, Hugh’s son, R. Robert  Funderberg, joined the company and Alpine State Bank was chartered in 1962 followed by Belvidere National Bank in 1967.

Current Board Chairman R. Robert Funderburg Jr., along with Alpine President and CEO Bill Roop, will join the Midland States Board of Directors.

“At the core, we are both community banks investing back in the communities we serve with long histories of helping generations of families with their personal, business and wealth management needs,” Funderberg said. “Our customers will be able to enjoy more services and more convenience, all delivered with the same attention to detail and personal service they have come to expect.”

Based in Effingham, Illinois, Midland is led by CEO Leon Holschbach, who said no changes are on the horizon for current Alpine customers. Roop and Funderberg will serve as liaisons as the two companies continue to integrate.

“We are very pleased to welcome Alpine’s customers, employees and shareholders to Midland,” Holsschbach said in a statement. “The combination of our two companies creates the fourth largest community bank based in Illinois, with more than 70 branches to serve our customers in both Illinois and Missouri.”

Midland has doubled in size since it issued an IPO in 2016. With Alpine’s, it will now have a total of 89 branches. R.