First Financial in Ohio to buy equipment finance firm

First Financial Bancorp in Cincinnati has agreed to buy Summit Funding Group, an equipment financing company in Cincinnati. 

The $16 billion-asset First Financial said in a press release Tuesday that it will pay $121 million in cash and stock for Summit. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Summit is expected to have $400 million in originations in 2022. The company currently manages $500 million of balances. 

"In combining the scale and product breadth of First Financial with Summit’s leading nationwide position in the equipment finance sector, we are ideally situated to capitalize on a significant growth opportunity,” Archie Brown, First Financial’s president and CEO, said in the release. 

“As an existing banking partner of Summit, our intimate understanding of the business and management team gives us a high degree of confidence that our combined value proposition will resonate in the market,” Brown added.

Summit CEO Rick Ross will continue to lead the business. Summit will continue to operate under its name. 

First Financial said it expects the transaction to be mid-single-digit accretive to its 2023 earnings per share. It should take about a year for First Financial to earn back any dilution to its tangible book value.

Lazard and Squire Patton Boggs advised First Financial. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and Taft Stettinius & Hollister advised Summit.