BancTrust president and CEO Bibb Lamar has deep ties and love for Selma. You’re likely to find him at a local restaurant or the grocery story during the weekend visits he makes to family in Selma.

When BancTrust, the holding company that owns BankTrust, purchased Peoples Southern Bank years ago, Bibb knew it was a strong bank to purchase and an even stronger community to serve.

As Lamar lead officials from Trustmark, the company that Tuesday announced it was acquiring BancTrust, through the Selma market, and in particular the main Selma branch on Broad Street, he did so with a level of excitement he had not felt in many years.

“I am a firm believer that things work out for the best. And, I can tell you I am as excited about this as I was the first day I went to work with the Bank of Mobile,” Lamar said in an interview with Times-Journal. “This is going to be fun and it’s an opportunity to take something and really grow the third largest bank headquartered in Alabama and this is going to really help us take that to another level.”

Trustmark President and CEO Jerry Host, who joined Lamar, said the tour of BankTrust locations, was in part to calm any anxiety among associates, bank officers and customers about the transition.

“We’re here to show that people in Mississippi do wear shoes and those from Trustmark do not have horns coming out their head,” Host said laughing. “When you come into a market — particularly in a market like this one, where you have a bank that is so dominant — you have people that are going to say ‘these are outsiders who don’t know anything about this area.”

“They’re right,” Host said. “We don’t know anything about this market. That’s why we are going to rely so much on the people that are here.”

Tuesday, Trustmark and BancTrust, announced a merger with an estimated value of $55.4 million. As the final parts of that merger receive final approval from shareholders and regulators, the two bank leaders stressed their focus is ensuring a smooth transition for the customers and employees.

“What the depositors and loan customers and wealth management clientele want to see is the same face they are accustomed to in seeing, that have confidence in handling their financial affairs,” Lamar said. “When we first began talking, one of the first things that was crystal clear is that when you find a partner, the partner you’re looking for wants the people that you have. They are buying people, not bricks and mortar.”

During a Tuesday conference call, some market analysts on the call questioned the merger on the part of Trustmark. But Host said the move is one that allows them to move into many Alabama markets, where BankTrust was the dominant bank, and into an overall market, where he sees growth on the horizon.

In information provided during the analyst presentation, BankTrust had a top three position in five of the 10 markets mentioned, and held the top position in four of those markets.

In Selma, the report showed BankTrust was the market’s No. 1 bank, with 28.1 percent of the market share. The bank also held the top position in the Brewton, Monroeville and Greenville markets.

In Walton County, Fla., BankTrust had the No. 2 spot. In Mobile, BankTrust was the No. 5 bank with an 8.5 percent market share.

As part of their effort to calm any fears, Host said changes will come, but they will be more in the way of new product lines, product enhancements and new technology.

“First thing, the bank isn’t changing for at least three months; not the name, not the processes, not the products. Nothing changes,” Host said. “I’m not going to sit here and say that there won’t be some consolidations as this takes place and that there won’t be some position elimination. The other side is this though, if we can grow the market, we are going to need to add people. And, it’s the type of people that if we grow branches, we are going to need people in those branches, if we want to grow lending officers, we are going to do that; if we want to have insurance people here, we offer insurance, those people will need to be added.”

For Lamar, he sees Selma in a strong position, with a staff that is keenly aware of what is needed to grow.

“You’ll notice that all of the associates at this bank are from Selma — or the area. There’s no one that has been put in the bank from the holding company. I don’t think there’s any intention to do that. In fact, we’ve used some of the Selma expertise to help us in Mobile,” Lamar said. “We’re going to let Ed [Livingston] and his group run this bank.”

Host agreed, saying the focus should not be on any cuts, rather the chance for the compa to expand.

“A lot of time people tend to focus on how many jobs are going to away,” Host said. “I like to view it as reshifting the resources within an organization to adapt the market and being able to expand.”

In January, when some media outlets said BancTrust was positioning itself to sell when it was seeking capital, Lamar — in an interview with the Times-Journal — said, “We do not have a ‘for sale’ sign hanging on the front door.”

“I did say that. That was when we were trying to recapitalize the bank. I also said at the time, that if an offer came to us that was beneficial, that we would listen,” Lamar said.

Host said the merger makes both the company stronger, and gives it a chance to expand in reach and in service.

“One of the reasons BancTrust was looking to raise capital was so it could expand operations, so they could expand their loan portfolios …” Host said. “That’s something we have. We have capital that will allow us to expand.”

Host and Lamar look for the merger to be completed by October.