MERCANTILE FILES WITH FDIC FOR OK TO BUY AMERIFIRST

Mercantile Bank of Cape Girardeau and Mercantile Bank of Sikeston, both wholly owned subsidiaries of Mercantile Bancorporation Inc. of St. Louis, have made application to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for permission to acquire AmeriFirst Banks, headquartered at Sikeston.

Notices of the proposed acquisition were published in today's Southeast Missourian.

Mercantile Bancorporation Inc. announced plans to expand its presence in Southeast Missouri through a merger with AmeriFirst Bancorporation earlier this year.

Any person wishing to comment on the application to the FDIC may file comments in writing to the Regional Director of the FDIC, 2345 Grand Avenue, Suite 1500, Kansas City, Mo., 64108. The application comment period is usually 30 days following the first legal publication.

AmeriFirst Bancorporation, a privately held company with assets of $164 million, is the holding company for AmeriFirst Bank, the market leader in Sikeston, where it operates two offices. AmeriFirst also has a branch office in Cape Girardeau.

Mercantile currently operates the Mercantile Bank of Sikeston, with assets of $39 million, and the Mercantile Bank of Cape Girardeau, with assets of $171 million.

Mercantile Bancorporation Inc. owns 52 financial institutions in Missouri -- including Cape Girardeau and Sikeston -- Eastern Kansas, Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa and Arkansas.

Mercantile and AmeriFirst would combine their operations in each of the communities, with the banks being called Mercantile. Decisions on operations will be announced later.

According to terms of the merger agreement announced earlier, Mercantile Bancorporation would issue 661,385 shares of common stock in exchange for the outstanding stock of AmeriFirst Bancorporation.

Mercantile also announced that it may purchase up to 65,000 shares of its own common stock in open-market transactions.

AmeriFirst Bank opened its Cape Girardeau branch in May 1990, following approval for a bank charter by the Missouri Division of Finance.