YORK, PA-The Bon-Ton Stores is buying Saks Inc.'s Northern Department Store Group for about $1.2 billion in cash. The transaction will give the department-store owner 142 units in 12, mostly Midwestern states under the Bergner's, Boston Store, Carson Pirie Scott, Herberger's and Younkers names.

The deal follows Saks sale of its Southern group, which consists of 25 McRae's and 22 Proffitt's stores located throughout 11 states, to Belk, for $622 million. It will leave Birmingham, AL-based Saks with 55 Saks Fifth Avenue stores, 50 Saks Off Fifth discount units, 40 Parisian department stores and the 56-unit Club Libby Lu specialty apparel chain.

After the acquisition, locally based Bon-Ton will have 280 stores in its portfolio. Executives expect the deal to close during next year's first quarter. They say the company plans to totally integrate the chain by the end of 2007. Of the 142 units it is buying, Bon-Ton will own 29 locations and lease the remainder.

During a conference call outlining the deal, Bon-Ton executives said that the transaction is attractive because many of NDSG stores are the same size as its current units and there is not a lot of geographic overlap between the two portfolios. They say there are no current plans to close any units and it plans to keep the chains' nameplates.

This is not the first big acquisition by Bon-Ton. The company bought the 68-store Elder-Beerman chain for $92.8 million in 2003. Bon-Ton's sales, which were just over $1.3 billion last year, are expected by executives to climb 155%.