Company: FRME
Filing Date: 2025-10-17
Form Type: S-4/A
Source: 0001193125-25-242318
Chunk: 58

Company: FIRST MERCHANTS CORP
Filing Date: 2025-10-17
Form: S-4/A
Chunk 58
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 is not required in order to complete the Merger. First Merchants
shareholders will also not be entitled to exchange their shares of First Merchant common stock for any consideration as a result of the Merger. After the Merger, First Merchants shareholders will continue to own the same number of First Merchants
shares they owned before the Merger.

Background of the Merger

Since First Savings completed its initial public offering in October 2008, its board of directors and senior management have periodically
reviewed and assessed First Savings’ strategic alternatives and the business and regulatory environments facing First Savings and First Savings Bank. As part of this process, First Savings has periodically reviewed and discussed strategic
alternatives, including continued independence and potentially engaging in a merger or acquisition transaction, and the perceived advantages and disadvantages of each alternative in light of the then prevailing market and economic conditions and
other factors, and has consulted periodically with representatives of investment banking firms, including Piper Sandler, regarding strategic planning matters. Piper Sandler is a nationally recognized investment banking firm with substantial
experience advising financial institutions with respect to mergers and acquisitions and other matters. First Savings’ board of directors determined that Piper Sandler’s existing relationships as disclosed to First Savings would not
interfere with its ability to provide investment banking services to First Savings. Piper Sandler has a long-standing relationship with First Savings and has presented various strategic planning topics to First Savings’ board of directors and
senior management.

Over approximately the last 18 months, senior management of First Savings and representatives of Piper Sandler, with
authorization from First Savings’ board of directors, contacted nine Midwest bank holding companies, including First Merchants, to gauge their interest in a potential merger or acquisition transaction with First Savings. In addition, senior
management of First Savings, with authorization from First Savings’ board of directors, contacted four additional Midwest bank holding companies to gauge their interest in a potential merger-of-equals transaction with First Savings. The results of these contacts were reported to First Savings’ board of directors. First Merchants alone expressed an interest in a potential merger
transaction with First Savings. In February 2025, based solely on its initial review of First Savings’ publicly available information, First Merchants verbally indicated to First Savings an exchange ratio range of 0.73 to 0.75 of a share of
First Merchants common stock for each outstanding share of First Savings common stock based on a potential all-stock transaction. On April 24, 2025, First Savings engaged Piper S