Company: FRME
Filing Date: 2025-10-17
Form Type: S-4/A
Source: 0001193125-25-242318
Chunk: 63

Company: FIRST MERCHANTS CORP
Filing Date: 2025-10-17
Form: S-4/A
Chunk 63
---
 and discussions with First Merchants’ management concerning the due diligence examination of 
 First Savings;                                                                                          |

| • |     | the complementary nature of the cultures of the two companies, which management believes should facilitate 
 integration and implementation of the transaction;                                                         |

| • |     | the financial and other terms of the Merger Agreement, including the fixed Exchange Ratio, tax treatment, and    
 deal protection and termination fee provisions, which it reviewed with its outside financial and legal advisors; |

43

| • |     | the potential risk of diverting management attention and resources from the operation of First Merchants’ 
 business towards the completion of the Merger; and                                                        |

| • |     | the regulatory and other approvals required in connection with the Merger and the expectation that such         
 regulatory approvals will be received in a timely manner and without the imposition of unacceptable conditions. |

The foregoing discussion of the information and factors considered by the First Merchants Board of Directors is not intended to be exhaustive, but includes the material factors considered by the First Merchants Board of Directors. In reaching its decision to approve and adopt the Merger Agreement, the Merger and the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, the First Merchants Board of Directors did not quantify or assign any relative weights to the factors considered, and individual directors may have given different weights to different factors. The First Merchants Board of Directors considered all these factors as a whole, including discussions with, and questioning of, First Merchants’ management and First Merchants’ financial and legal advisors, and overall considered the factors to be favorable to, and to support, its determination. For the reasons set forth above, the First Merchants Board of Directors unanimously determined that the Merger Agreement and the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement are advisable and in the best interests of First Merchants and its shareholders, and unanimously approved and adopted the Merger Agreement. First Savings’ Reasons for the Merger First Savings’ board of directors, together with First Savings’ senior management and its financial and legal advisors, reviewed and discussed the merger agreement and the transactions contemplated by it and the board of directors determined that the merger agreement and the transactions contemplated by it are advisable and in the best interests of First Savings and its shareholders. In reaching its conclusion to approve the merger agreement and the transactions contemplated by it, the board of directors considered a number of factors. The board of directors considered the following material factors:

| • |     | The board of directors’ understanding of the business, operations, financial condition,