ATLANTA ― United Parcel Service, Inc., continuing to expand its burgeoning financial-services unit, reached a definitive agreement to acquire First International Bancorp for stock valued at about $78.7 million, or $9.51 a share.

The parcel-delivery company said the deal, its second acquisition in less than a week, would give UPS the capability to make government-backed loans to small and medium-size business. First International, based in Hartford, Conn., managed a loan portfolio of about $1.2 billion as of Sept. 30, about two-thirds of it substantially backed by federal agencies and other parties, UPS said.