Denver Business Journal
By Analisa Romano – Senior Reporter, Denver Business Journal
Sep 16, 2025
Tim Laney, chairman and CEO of NBH, said during an investor conference call that the Greenwood Village-based bank holding company had “been looking for some time” to brand its collection of banking centers “under one powerful name.”
“I love its meaning,” Laney said. “It should not be lost on anyone that the name plays well in both English and Spanish.”
The change will apply to all but one of the brands operating under the NBH (NYSE: NBHC) umbrella, he said, which include Community Banks of Colorado, Bank Midwest and Hillcrest Bank.
However, Bank of Jackson Hole, which is the sole brand chartered in Wyoming and includes NBH’s trust and wealth management business, will keep its branding, Laney said.
The Vista acquisition, announced on Monday, will add 11 banking centers in Texas and Florida to the NBH network and create a combined bank with $12.4 billion in assets, the companies said. The deal is valued at $369.1 million and entails $84.8 million in cash payments and 7.4 million shares of NBH common stock for Vista shareholders.
Laney said NBH is also eager to integrate some of Vista’s approaches to private banking and recruiting and retaining talent across the company.
John Steinmetz, the CEO of Vista Bank who will lead the combined Texas market once the deal closes, will oversee initiatives to grow in Colorado’s resort areas, where those initiatives are poised to flourish, Laney said.
“We already have very meaningful share in the Jackson Hole market, and we love it,” he said. “We want to see the same in Aspen, in Telluride, in Vail. And certainly post-Covid, the opportunity in those markets has grown dramatically.”
NBH is keeping its eye on other potential deals, Laney said.
“We think it’s an interesting time to be looking at a multitude of opportunities as it relates to both growth and new businesses and, quite frankly, additional M&A,” he said.
According to Dallas Business Journal reporting, Steinmetz said in a statement that Vista “strongly considered” an initial public offering and has had “multiple opportunities” to do deals, but decided NBH Bank ultimately proved itself to be “the right partner at the right time.”
Vista’s strong reputation in Texas and differentiation in the market checked all the boxes that NBH was looking for in a transaction, Laney said. He and Steinmetz spent “a very meaningful amount of time together” in recent years and came to believe that their company cultures were a good fit, he said.
“My goal is to keep the Vista band together and position it to simply play in bigger arenas,” Laney said.
The deal, approved unanimously by both organizations’ boards of directors, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, the companies said. Vista’s shareholders and banking regulators must still approve the transaction.
As of June, NBH Bank held about $9.9 billion in total assets, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.