Two of Missouri’s community banks are merging.

Liberty Bancorp, the holding company for BankLiberty, announced late last week that it reached an agreement that will see the bank acquire Lawson Bank.

Under the terms of the deal, Liberty Bancorp will purchase all the stock of Lawson Financial Corp., the parent company of Lawson Bank.

Lawson Bank, which is headquartered in Lawson, Missouri, and has branches in Kansas City, Excelsior Springs, and Gladstone, Missouri, would then be merged into BankLiberty, which has branches in Kansas City, Parkville, Liberty, North Kansas City, Riverside, Gladstone, Claycomo, Platte City, and Independence.

In a statement, Brent Giles, president and CEO of BankLiberty, said that acquiring Lawson Bank fits into the company’s plan to grow.

“BankLiberty is excited to be able to provide Lawson Bank’s customers with the friendly community bank service they expect along with cutting-edge services that make business and life easier,” Giles said.

“This move fits very well with our core growth and service throughout the Northland. We look forward to further executing our plan of building a financially strong bank through prudent and creative solutions for our customers,” Giles added. “We think this is going to be a wonderful combination of two well respected financial institutions. We look forward to working with the customers and staff of Lawson Bank.”

Stephen McCray, the chairman of Lawson Financial, said that the decision to sell was “not an easy one,” but said that he is “pleased that our customers will continue to be served by a community bank that shares our passion for helping local households and businesses.”

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The companies expect the deal to close in the second quarter of 2018.