FirstBank, the Colorado financial institution based in Lakewood, will soon have a new owner.

The PNC Financial Services Group announced Monday it signed an agreement to acquire FirstBank Holding Company in a deal worth $4.1 billion.

The merger of the two companies would make it one of the state’s largest banks with 120 locations. PNC said the purchase would make it the leader in consumer deposits (20% market share) and branches (14%).

The deal is expected to close in early 2026. Once it goes through, FirstBank branches — also branded as 1stBank — will take on the PNC brand name.

FirstBank has about $26.8 billion in assets, according to the news release. The financial institution founded in 1963 has 95 branches across Colorado and Arizona. 

The bank is privately held, but the banks disclosed that the stockholders of FirstBank who collectively own 45.7% of the shares have already voted in favor of the merger.

“Its deep retail deposit base, unrivaled branch network in Colorado, growing presence in Arizona, and trusted community relationships make it an ideal partner for PNC,” William S. Demchak, chairman and chief executive officer of PNC, said in the announcement.

PNC has been on an acquisition streak in the last few years that has made the Pennsylvania bank one of the biggest players in retail banking in the country, as PNC executives like to say “a coast-to-coast banking franchise.” PNC bought the U.S. operations of Spanish bank BBVA shortly after the pandemic for $11.6 billion. The bank has also been opening new branches in multiple markets, but particularly in the Southwest.

PNC will also grow to roughly $575 billion in assets.

FirstBank’s CEO Kevin Classen will join PNC as the Colorado Regional President and Mountain Territory Executive, which also includes Arizona and Utah.

“In PNC, we have found a partner that not only values this legacy but is committed to building on it,” Classen said. “Their scale, technology and breadth of financial services will allow us to offer even more to our customers, while ensuring that our employees and communities continue to thrive.”

PNC said it plans to keep all of FirstBank’s branches open and its employees.

The FirstBank purchase will put PNC closer in size to Capital One and U.S. Bank, who are PNC’s closest rivals. U.S. Bank, in particular, operates heavily in the Colorado and Arizona market.

Alex Overstrom, head of retail for the bank, said PNC may consider additional acquisitions to build out its franchise.

“We are not slowing down our organic growth but may consider opportunities as they arise,” Overstrom said, in an interview with the Associated Press.

PNC is typically referred to as a super regional bank, a group of large national banks that are significant in size, often hundreds of billions in assets and hundreds of branches, but are dwarfed in size by the banking giants Wells Fargo, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, who have size and scale that the super regionals cannot replicate.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.