New Hampshire is losing another small local bank to an out-of-state buyer.
Primary Bank has agreed to sell itself to Hometown Financial Group, Massachusetts’ second-largest mutual bank holding company for $160 million in cash and stock.
The 11-year-old, publicly traded Primary Bank is based in Bedford and has $743 million in assets and branches in Manchester, Nashua, Derry and Bedford.
As part of the merger, Hometown Financial will join its three constituent mutual banks into one, TruNorth Bank, and convert from a mutual to a stock ownership structure.
“Primary Bank has achieved tremendous success since opening as a de novo bank, and this partnership represents the next logical step in ensuring our long-term success while continuing to meet customers’ evolving needs,” Primary Bank Chairman William Greiner said in a a statement. “Primary Bank’s Board of Directors knew that this day would come and one of the most important decisions was making sure that our merger partner would have the same vision, mission, and culture; we could not have picked a better partner than Hometown Financial.”
If approved by regulators, Hometown Financial corporators and Primary Bank shareholders, the twin moves will create a $7.64 billion-asset bank with 59 branches in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and northeast Connecticut.
The deal is the second proposed acquisition of a New Hampshire bank by a Massachusetts peer this year, after Dover-based First Seacoast Bank agreed to sell itself to Cambridge Savings Bank. That deal followed BankProv’s acquisition by Massachusetts-based Needham Bank and Maine-based Camden National Bank’s purchase of Northway Bank in 2025.
“As consolidation in the banking industry continues, this partnership allows our organizations to build on their shared track record of prioritizing customer needs and helping local businesses take hold, grow, and prosper,” Hometown Financial CEO and Chairman Matthew Sosik said in a statement. “Together, we can offer customers the best of both banking worlds: a community bank deeply rooted in the neighborhoods we call home and an institution with the size and scale to deliver a full array of innovative products, services, and technology.”
