Continuing to grow through acquisitions, the parent of Peoples Community Bank in West Chester will buy two Greater Cincinnati branches of an Indiana bank for about $6.5 million.

Peoples Bancorp Inc. has agreed to buy offices from Ameriana Bancorp, a New Castle, Ind.-based bank that will exit the local market with the sale.

Peoples will secure about $63.1 million in deposits, $30.9 million in loans and $25.2 million in cash with the purchase. It also will add about 5,000 customers with the branches at 7200 Blue Ash Road in Deer Park and 2894 U.S. 22 in Landen The deal is expected to close this fall.

The deal shows how Peoples has used acquisitions to expand, including its purchases of Market Savings Bank and Kenwood Savings Bank in the past two years.

With assets of $619 million, Peoples Community Bancorp now operates 11 branches in Warren, Butler and Hamilton counties. After the latest deal is completed the bank will have assets of about $700 million and 13 branches locally.

The deal also illustrates how, although slower in recent years, more and more local savings banks and thrifts have been acquired by each other during the past decade.

Lenders gloomy about next six months

Many U.S. lenders are not overly optimistic that the economy will greatly rebound during the next six months, mainly because of concerns about the war in Iraq and the sluggish economy, a new survey suggests.

Moreover, about 75 lenders contend that most business segments will remain flat and bankruptcies and loan losses will rise.

They also don't expect to do a lot of new business with individual customers the rest of this year, according to the latest results of the Phoenix Management "Lending Climate in America" survey.

Most lenders expect that lending to corporate, middle market and small-business clients will remain flat, while 50 percent said lending to international customers would drop.

Sixty-three percent of those surveyed think that bankruptcies will rise in the next months, while 56 percent predicted that loan losses would increase. Most lenders also think that interest rates, unemployment and bankruptcies will remain unchanged, though 37 percent expect unemployment could go up more.

Moreover, 65 percent of lenders, when asked about their customers' growth expectations, said they see moderate growth, while 32 percent said their customers expect no growth at all.

"Lenders are telling us they are seeing almost nothing encouraging on the short-term horizon," said E. Talbot Briddell, president of Phoenix Management Services, a Philadelphia-based firm that conducts the quarterly survey.

Fifth Third gets analyst's 'buy' rating

Fifth Third Bancorp is one of three banks with Ohio operations whose stock a top analyst is recommending to potential investors.

Michael Plodwick of Blaylock & Partners of New York has initiated a "buy" rating on Fifth Third, U.S. Bancorp and Charter One Financial, all with big presences in the Buckeye State.

Plodwick has set 12-month price targets of $61 for Cincinnati's Fifth Third, $25 for Minneapolis' U.S. Bancorp and $35 for Cleveland's Charter One.

He contends that Fifth Third's operating structure is a strength of the parent of Fifth Third Bank and that an agreement with regulators last month to address internal accounting problems should lift a cloud that has been hurting the stock in recent months.

Fifth Third stock has fallen 22 percent since the problems were discovered last fall. It closed at $49.01, down 39 cents Tuesday. Plodwick also is bullish on the parent of U.S. Bank, which operates about 100 branches locally.

He said the bank is positioned to post "surprise-free" earnings in the next few years. Mr. Plodwick also figures that the bank's management has something to prove after several years of merger-related charges.

E-mail jmckinney@enquirer.com