Shareholders OK First Financial merger

Shareholders have approved a merger of First Financial Bancorp and MainSource Financial Group, Inc., both companies said Tuesday.

The merger was first announced in July.

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The transaction remains subject to receipt of all required regulatory approvals and satisfaction of customary closing conditions, and is expected to close in early 2018, the companies said.

On closing the banking subsidiaries of each will also merge, with First Financial Bank as the surviving entity, the banks said.

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The MainSource branches will continue to operate under the name “MainSource Bank” until the conversion of the operating systems, expected to occur in the second quarter of 2018.

First Financial Bank was founded in Hamilton in 1863. First Financial Bancorp was the holding company formed to allow the bank to make acquisitions and expand.

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