BUSINESS MEMO: UNION PLANTERS ACQUIRES STOCK

Union Planters Corp., an $11.3 billion-asset Memphis-based bank-holding company that recently completed acquisition of Capital Bancorporation Inc. of Cape Girardeau, has announced an agreement to acquire the outstanding stock of Leader Corp. Acquisition of Leader, the $3.1 billion-asset parent company of Leader Federal Bank, would create Tennessee's largest bank-holding company.

Announcement was made jointly by Benjamin W. Rawlins Jr., chairman and CEO of Union Planters, and Edgar H. Bailey, chairman and CEO of Leader Financial. The agreement calls for Union to acquire all of the outstanding stock of Leader Financial in a transaction valued at approximately $523 million, or $48 per share, based on Union Planters' March 7 closing stock of $31 1/2.

The agreement calls for Union Planters to exchange 1.525 shares of its common stock for each common share of Leader Financial.