Company: ASB
Filing Date: 2025-12-30
Form Type: S-4
Source: 0001193125-25-337086
Chunk: 33

Company: ASSOCIATED BANC-CORP
Filing Date: 2025-12-30
Form: S-4
Chunk 33
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 to the completion of the Merger and the provisions for terminating or amending the Merger Agreement. American National’s Reasons for the Merger; Recommendation of the American National Board of Directors The American National board of directors believes that the Merger is in the best interests of American National and its shareholders. In reaching its unanimous decision to approve the Merger Agreement, the American National board of directors evaluated the Merger and the Merger Agreement, in consultation with American National’s executive management as well as American National’s legal and financial advisors, and considered a number of positive factors, including the following, which are not presented in order of priority and are not exhaustive:

| • |     | its knowledge of American National’s business, operations, regulatory and financial condition, asset                                              
 quality, earnings, loan portfolio, capital and prospects both as an independent organization and as a part of a combined company with Associated; |

| • |     | the expanded possibilities, including organic growth and future acquisitions, that would be available to the  
 combined company, given its larger size, asset base, capital, market capitalization and geographic footprint; |

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| • |     | the results that American National could expect to achieve operating independently, and the likely risks and 
 benefits to shareholders of that course of action, as compared with the value of the Merger Consideration;   |

| • |     | the nature of the Merger Consideration, which is in the form of stock consideration that offers American National            
 shareholders the opportunity to participate as shareholders of Associated in the future performance of the combined company; |

| • |     | that American National shareholders (other than the American National voting shareholders) will receive freely                                                                                                                                          
 tradable shares of Associated common stock, to be listed on NYSE, as Merger Consideration, and that American National voting shareholders will have certain rights, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Transfer, Voting and    
 Registration Rights Agreement, to have the sale of the shares of Associated common stock that they will receive as Merger Consideration registered following the completion of the Merger, so that the Merger would provide materially better liquidity 
 for American National shareholders versus the extremely limited liquidity options available to American National shareholders currently (notwithstanding certain restrictions on transfer applicable to the American National voting shareholders under 
 the Transfer, Voting and Registration Rights Agreement);                                                                                                                                                                                                |

| • |     | the historical performance of Associated common stock; |

| • |     | the fact that the Merger Consideration paid in the form of