Dallas Financial Firm Acquires Citizens Thrift

A fast-growing Dallas finance company said Thursday that it has completed its acquisition of Citizens Thrift & Loan and Citizens’ parent company in a stock swap valued at $29.6 million.

FirstPlus Financial Group Inc. said it expects the loans and other assets of the Tustin thrift and loan to grow from $125 million to $300 million during the next 12 months. FirstPlus is retaining all employees and adding more, said Eric C. Green, the company’s chief financial officer.

It also will change the name of the unit to FirstPlus Bank within six months to take advantage of the company’s better-known FirstPlus finance subsidiary. The Dallas company’s own name was changed last March from RAC Financial Group Inc. to create a uniform brand identity.

Citizens’ holding company, Western Interstate Bancorp in Newport Beach, will be absorbed into FirstPlus.

A thrift and loan, called an industrial bank in other states, is a hybrid between a bank and a finance company that typically makes consumer and home equity loans.