On July 31, 2018, AJS Bancorp, Inc. (“AJSB”), Midlothian, Illinois, the holding company for A. J. Smith Federal Savings Bank, and NorthWest Indiana Bancorp (“NWIN”), Munster, Indiana, the holding company for Peoples Bank SB, announced a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which AJSB will merge with and into NWIN, with NWIN as the resulting company. AJSB stockholders generally will receive $7.20 in cash and 0.2030 shares of NWIN common stock per share of AJSB common stock, such that the merger consideration will consist of approximately 55% stock and 45% cash. AJSB stockholders holding less than 100 shares of AJSB common stock will receive $16.00 in cash per share. The total merger consideration is valued at approximately $34.6 million at announcement.

Luse Gorman served as legal counsel to AJSB in the transaction. The Luse Gorman team was led by Benjamin Azoff (Corporate/M&A) and Jeffrey Cardone (Executive Compensation/M&A) and included Gregory Sobczak (Corporate/M&A) and Ellie Cook (Corporate/M&A).

AJSB has approximately $191.8 million in total consolidated assets and operates three full-service offices in the Chicago metropolitan market area.

NWIN has approximately $1.1 billion in total consolidated assets and operates 19 locations in Lake and Porter Counties in northwest Indiana and south suburban Chicago.