HICKORY HILLS – First Midwest Bancorp Inc., the parent company of First Midwest Bank, announced Wednesday it will acquire Standard Bancshares Inc., the holding company for Standard Bank & Trust Company, according to a news release from First Midwest.

Standard Bank & Trust is headquartered in Hickory Hills and has 35 branches throughout the suburbs, including locations in Bolingbrook, Coal City, Frankfort, Gardner, Joliet, Lockport, Minooka, Morris, New Lenox, Shorewood and Wilmington, according to its website.

"We think combined we will be an even stronger part of the communities," Jim Roolf, senior vice president of First Midwest, said.

Roolf said as they move forward the two banks will assess how to combine in each community they both serve, including which branches will remain open.

Standard has assets of about $2.5 billion with $2.2 billion in deposits.

“We are extremely pleased and excited to join First Midwest,” Lawrence P. Kelley, Standard’s president and CEO, said in the news release. “... As part of the First Midwest team, we will continue to provide the highly personalized experience our clients have come to expect while providing our clients with an expanded suite of products and services.”

The merger provides for a fixed exchange ratio of .4350 shares of First Midwest common stock for each share of Standard common stock.

According to the news release, based upon First Midwest’s June 28 closing price of $16.11 per share, the overall transaction is valued at about $365 million.

“We could not be more excited to welcome Standard’s clients and colleagues to the First Midwest team," First Midwest President and CEO Michael L. Scudder said in the news release. "This combination further positions us as metro Chicago’s premier commercial bank, strengthens our leading south metro market presence and continues our expansion into northwest Indiana."

Upon closing of the transaction, Kelley will serve as the market president for First Midwest in its south metro Chicago and northwest Indiana markets, and will serve on the Board of Directors of First Midwest Bank.

The transaction is anticipated to close in late 2016 or early 2017, and remains subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing.

Calls to area branch presidents were not immediately returned Wednesday.