(Reuters) – U.S. regional bank mergers have ticked up this year and are expected to remain robust as the lenders seek stronger balance sheets to compete better against larger rivals.

Regional lender First Busey agreed to buy smaller rival CrossFirst Bankshares in a $916.8 million all-stock deal on Tuesday.

Here is an overview of the biggest deals in the space this year:

Target Acquirer Deal value Date

SouthState Corp $2 billion May 20

Independent Bank Group

Heartland UMB Financial $2 billion April 29

Financial Corp

First Renasant Corp $1.2 July 29

Bancshares billion

Premier WesBanco $959 July 26

Financial million

CrossFirst $916.8

BankShares First Busey million Aug. 27

Macatawa Wintrust $510.3 April 15

Bank Corp Financial million

Heartland German American $330.2 July 29

Bancorp Bancorp million

Piedmont United $267 May 10

Bancorp Bankshares million

California Southern $233.6 Jan. 30

BanCorp California million

Bancorp*

* Merger of equals

(Reporting by Manya Saini and Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Shinjini Ganguli)

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