Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies

The companies listed in this notice have applied to the Board for approval, pursuant to the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 1841 et seq.) (BHC Act), Regulation Y (12 CFR part 225), and all other applicable statutes and regulations to become a bank holding company and/or to acquire the assets or the ownership of, control of, or the power to vote shares of a bank or bank holding company and all of the banks and nonbanking companies owned by the bank holding company, including the companies listed below.

The applications listed below, as well as other related filings required by the Board, are available for immediate inspection at the Federal Reserve Bank indicated. The application also will be available for inspection at the offices of the Board of Governors. Interested persons may express their views in writing on the standards enumerated in the BHC Act (12 U.S.C. 1842(c)). If the proposal also involves the acquisition of a nonbanking company, the review also includes whether the acquisition of the nonbanking company complies with the standards in section 4 of the BHC Act (12 U.S.C. 1843). Unless otherwise noted, nonbanking activities will be conducted throughout the United States. Additional information on all bank holding companies may be obtained from the National Information Center Web site at www.ffiec.gov/nic/ .

Unless otherwise noted, comments regarding each of these applications must be received at the Reserve Bank indicated or the offices of the Board of Governors not later than October 30, 2002.

A. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (Sue Costello, Vice President) 1000 Peachtree Street, NE., Atlanta, Georgia 30309-4470:

1. Hazlehurst Investors, Inc., Hazlehurst, Georgia; to become a bank holding company by acquiring 100 percent of the voting shares of Bank of Hazlehurst, Hazlehurst, Georgia.

2. Synovus Financial Corp., Columbus, Georgia; to merge with United Financial Holdings, Inc., and thereby indirectly acquire United Bank and Trust Company, both of St. Petersburg, Florida, and United Bank of the Gulf Coast, Sarasota, Florida.

B. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (Randall C. Sumner, Vice President) 411 Locust Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63166-2034:

1. Mercantile Bancorp, Inc., Quincy, Illinois; to acquire up to an additional 9.14 percent, for a total of 29 percent of New Frontier Bancshares, Inc., Saint Charles, Missouri, and thereby indirectly acquire New Frontier Bank, Saint Charles Missouri.