Old National acquires Tower Bank

Old National Bank is growing again.
The Evansville-based firm announced this week it will be acquiring Tower Financial Corporation of Fort Wayne through a stock and cash merger.
Tower Financial is a bank holding company with Tower Bank and Trust as its wholly-owned subsidiary. It has six full-service banking centers in Fort Wayne and one in Warsaw. It has $680.9 million in total assets and another $523.3 million in trust assets.
Old National is the largest financial services holding company based in Indiana. Prior to the acquisition of Tower, it had $9.6 billion in assets and 176 branches, including one in Portland.
With the acquisition, Old National will be the third largest deposit holder in Indiana.
It also has branches in Illinois, Michigan, and Kentucky.
Under the terms of the deal, which has been approved by both boards of directors, shareholders of Tower will receive 1.20 shares of Old National common stock and $6.75 in cash for each share of Tower.

Wind farm challenged
A wind farm project in Wells County has been challenged in court.
Six Wells County couples have filed suit challenging plans to locate 68 wind turbines in Harrison, Nottingham, Chester, and Liberty townships.
Apex Wind Energy Inc. had won approval from the Wells County area planning commission, but the suit challenges whether that decision was consistent with the county’s planning ordinance.

Franklin relocates
Franklin Electric Co. Inc. has relocated its headquarters and engineering center to Fort Wayne, moving from its longtime facility in Bluffton.
The new facility is located near Fort Wayne International Airport.

POET fined
POET Biorefining, which operates an ethanol plant southwest of Portland, has been fined by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management over alleged air pollution regulation violations at its Alexandria plant.
Fines over the past two years have totaled more than $94,000.

Merchant Trick
or Treat
Merchant Trick or Treat Night in downtown Portland is set for 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 31.
All Jay County businesses are invited to participate. Businesses that aren’t located in downtown Portland may set up space in the parking lot at the Community Resource Center, where the Jay County Chamber of Commerce has its offices.
The cost is $20 per business to help defray the costs of printing and advertising.
Interested businesses should contact the chamber by Oct. 24 to be included in the official Trick or Treat Night map.

Raise $1.3 million
Ivy Tech Community College raised more than $1.3 million last week with a 50th anniversary gala in Indianapolis.
The college was established in 1963 as Indiana Vocational Technical College. Ivy Tech offers classes locally through John Jay Center for Learning, Portland.

On a mission
Lori Luther, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Indiana University Health/Ball Memorial Hospital, returns today from a nine-day trade mission to Japan in her role as chair of the Energize-ECI Inc. board of directors.
The trade mission was led by Gov. Mike Pence.[[In-content Ad]]