AKRON — FirstMerit Corp. announced Thursday that it will buy Citizens Republic Bancorp Inc. of Flint, Mich., which has 219 offices in Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The deal is valued at about $952 million.

The combined company will have $24 billion in total assets, $15 billion in loans, $19 billion in deposits, 415 branches, 452 ATMS, and more than 5,000 employees across five states.

Citizens Republic branches will be rebranded as FirstMerit branches.

First Published September 14, 2012, 4:00 a.m.