Home Fed/First Louisiana Merger Terminated

Citing turmoil in the mortgage markets, Home Federal Bancorp Inc. of Louisiana, Shreveport, La., has announced the termination of a planned merger with First Louisiana Bancshares Inc., Shreveport. The mutual agreement to call off the planned merger stemmed from the termination of Home Federal's second-step conversion, under which the company was to convert from a mutual holding company to a stock holding company, Home Federal reported. "The ongoing problems in the residential mortgage lending market continue to depress the securities market for most financial institutions, which adversely affected our ability to complete the stock offering at the current pricing and valuation ratios," said Daniel R. Herndon, president and chief executive officer of Home Federal.