EXHIBIT 99Bancshares Incorporated Enter Definitive Agreement • December 2nd, 2002 • Peoples Bancorp Inc • State commercial banks
MARIETTA, Ohio - Robert E. Evans, President and Chief Executive Officer of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (Nasdaq: PEBO and "Peoples Bancorp") and C. Ronald Christmas, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kentucky Bancshares Incorporated ("Kentucky Bancshares"), of Russell, Kentucky, jointly announced that today Kentucky Bancshares entered into a definitive Agreement and Plan of Merger (the "Agreement") with Peoples Bancorp providing for the acquisition by Peoples Bancorp of Kentucky Bancshares. In the Agreement, Peoples Bancorp proposes to use a combination of cash and Peoples Bancorp common shares as consideration for all of the issued and outstanding shares of Kentucky Bancshares common stock. The aggregate value of the transaction is not expected to exceed $31.4 million, of which approximately half would be paid in cash and half in Peoples Bancorp common shares, dependent upon the market price of Peoples Bancorp common shares. The banking subsidiary of Kentucky Bancshares is Kentucky Ban
