Elizabeth Hendrickson/MDN This is the Bremer Bank in Minot at 15 S. Broadway. All Bremer locations in North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin will convert to Old National when the merger transaction is completed.

A merger agreement of Old National Bancorp, the holding company for Old National Bank, and Bremer Financial Corp., the bank holding company for Bremer Bank, is advancing.

The bank merger, to result in Old National Bank as the surviving name, will include Bremer Bank locations in 13 North Dakota cities and more than 50 banking centers in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The North Dakota cities with Bremer include Minot, Rugby, Carrington, Devils Lake, Grand Forks, Fargo, Grafton, Lisbon, Bismarck, Casselton, Fordville, Larimore and Wahpeton.

In November 2024, Evansville, Indiana-based Old National Bancorp (Old National), St. Paul, Minnesota-based Bremer Financial Corp. and ONB Merger Sub. Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Old National, announced they had entered into an agreement and plan of merger for Old National to acquire Bremer.

On Monday, an 8-K, or current report that companies must file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to announce major events that shareholders should know about, was filed outlining the closing date.

According to Form 8-K, on March 5, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis approved the Holding Company Transaction, and on March 19, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved the bank merger. The shareholders of Bremer approved and adopted the merger agreement at a special meeting of Bremer’s shareholders held on March 7.

The holding company transaction and the bank merger are currently expected to be completed on May 1, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions set forth in the merger agreement and the bank merger agreement, according to Form 8-K.

Currently, Bremer has 189 employees in North Dakota, a spokesman for Old National said.

According to the Nov. 25, 2024, news release announcing the merger, Bremer had $16.2 billion in total assets, $11.5 billion in total loans and $13.2 billion in deposits. After the partnership is completed, Old National will become the third-largest bank in the Twin Cities.

Bremer Financial Corp., a privately held financial services corporation, was founded in 1943 by Otto Bremer.

Upon closing the recent transaction, the Otto Bremer Trust, a charitable trust based in St. Paul, Minnesota, will have about 11% ownership stake in Old National, and a trustee of the Otto Bremer Trust will join the Old National Board of Directors, the November 2024 news release said.