LAFAYETTE, La., July 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MidSouth Bancorp, Inc. (AMEX:MSL), parent company of MidSouth Bank and MidSouth Bank, Texas, has been named one of the country's top performing small capitalization banks by the investment banking firm Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P. MidSouth Bancorp is one of only 24 banks and thrifts to achieve the prestigious Sandler O'Neill Sm All-Stars -- Class of 2007 status, the first time the Lafayette, La.-based bank holding company has been recognized since the inaugural list was published four years ago.
In 2006, 34 institutions made the cut. This year's list includes nine alumni from the 2006 class, welcoming 15 new members to the exclusive group.
The list's sole Louisiana bank and one of only two from Texas, MidSouth Bancorp was chosen from a field of 610 publicly traded banks and thrifts with a market cap of less than $2 billion. To identify the two dozen institutions that stood out, Sandler O'Neill analyzed growth, profitability, credit quality and capital strength. That screening methodology eliminated 96 percent of the companies being evaluated.
In announcing the 2007 list, Sandler O'Neill Partners called the institutions' performance metrics "outstanding," noting that they delivered bottom line results that are markedly better than the industry as a whole. Specifically, in the last 12 months, the Sm All-Stars team's deposit growth and loan growth were 20.6 percent and 23.9 percent, respectively, compared to 7.5 percent and 9.9 percent for its peers.
"What Sandler O'Neill aims to do is get the jump on helping investors uncover the next generation of leading mid-cap banks and thrifts, in essence hinting at who they may be before they are discovered by Wall Street and the rest of the world," said MidSouth Bancorp President and Chief Executive Officer C.R. "Rusty" Cloutier. "This is an exciting opportunity to have the respected firm shine the spotlight on us, a bank it has never before covered in its research reports," he continued. "It puts us in a new arena, and we plan to maintain the integrity of the list by continuing to outperform our peers in every way possible." Founded in 1988 and headquartered in New York, Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P. is one of the largest investment banking companies in the country specializing in financial institutions. The investment banking firm has more than 250 employees throughout its offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Atlanta.
One of the fastest-growing bank holding companies in the South, MidSouth Bancorp, Inc. has total assets approaching $815 million, with 30 locations in Louisiana and Texas and more than 120 ATMs.
Through its wholly owned subsidiaries -- MidSouth Bank, N.A. and MidSouth Bank, Texas -- MidSouth Bancorp offers complete banking services to commercial and retail customers in south Louisiana and southeast Texas. The group is community oriented and focuses primarily on offering commercial and consumer loan and deposit services to individuals, small, and middle market businesses. Founded in 1985, MidSouth Bank has 23 offices extending along the Interstate 10 corridor in south Louisiana: nine in Lafayette Parish, two in St. Martin Parish, one in Jefferson Davis Parish, one in St. Landry Parish, four in Iberia Parish, one in St. Mary Parish, two in Calcasieu Parish, one in Lafourche Parish, one in Terrebonne Parish and two in East Baton Rouge Parish. In addition, a new banking facility is under way in the Baton Rouge market and is scheduled to open in November. Also, a new retail location in Lake Charles is tentatively set to open in October, and the bank is expanding to Cut Off (south of Houma) in mid-August.
MidSouth Bank, Texas currently has six full-service offices in the southeast region of Texas, including Beaumont, Vidor, College Station and Conroe. It also has a commercial loan production office in the greater Houston market that will be replaced by a full-service banking facility in the fall of 2007. MidSouth Bank, Texas has three retail offices in Jefferson County, one in Orange County, one in Brazos County, and one in Montgomery County. A new facility is scheduled to open in September to replace the existing location in Conroe.
MidSouth Bancorp's common stock is traded on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol MSL. DATASOURCE: MidSouth Bancorp, Inc.
CONTACT: Alex Calicchia, Chief Marketing Officer of MidSouth Bancorp, Inc., +1-337-593-3008
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