The historic 662,000-square-foot tower, known for its neon 1st sign, was sold to a New York City investment group for a little more than $19.8 million. The Business Journal notes Houston-based Fairfield Financial Group bought the First National Bank Building in January 2007 for $27.1 million.

Flagstone Foods, one of the largest suppliers of trail mix and dried fruit snacks in the U.S., is now based in downtown St. Paul. The Pioneer Press reports the new corporate headquarters will employ about 45 people. Flagstone, previously called Snacks Holding Corp., was formed by San Francisco-based Gryphon Investors in November 2010. The company received $80,000 from the St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority that won't have to be repaid as long as it hires 40 or more people.

St. Cloud-based Stearns Bank purchased all of the assets of the three-branch Jasper Banking Co. of Jasper, Ga., after regulators shut the bank down Friday, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Since 2008, Stearns has purchased eight failed banks in government-assisted sales.

The RiverBank had been losing money since 2009 and regulators considered it undercapitalized. Its six branches are now part of Central Bank, which has acquired several failed banks over the last two years.

St. Paul-based Ecolab plans to buy Houston-based Champion Technologies Inc. for about $2.2 billion in cash and stock to complement last year’s purchase of Nalco Holding Co. and grab a larger share of the oilfield-chemicals business, Bloomberg News reports.