First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company (First Citizens Bank) has agreed to acquire Entegra Financial, the holding company of Entegra Bank, for a sum of around $219.8m.
Image: First Citizens Bank to buy North Carolina-based Entegra Bank and its holding company Entegra Financial. Photo: courtesy of Aurora30/Wikipedia.org.
Entegra Bank, which is headquartered in Franklin, North Carolina, is a community bank that provides retail and commercial financial services. The bank offers checking accounts, home loans, lines of credit, auto loans, working capital, expansion loans and others.
The state-chartered, full-service commercial bank, which was established in 1922, operates 18 branches located in Western North Carolina, Upstate South Carolina and North Georgia. It also has loan production offices located in Asheville, North Carolina and Clemson, South Carolina.
As of 31 December 2018, the Entegra Financial subsidiary had $1.6bn in consolidated assets, $1.2bn in deposits and $1.1bn in loans.
First Citizens Bank, which is based in Raleigh in North Carolina, operates more than 550 branches across 19 US states. The bank has more than $35bn in assets.
First Citizens Bank chairman and CEO Frank Holding Jr. said: “First Citizens has a long and proud history in nearly all of these communities. We also share many core attributes with Entegra, including a commitment to service excellence and relationship banking.”
Entegra Bank said that as part of the much larger and growing First Citizens Bank, it can continue to provide a highly personalized experience to its customers along with access to more products, services, and resources in the course of time.
First Citizens Bank will acquire Entegra Bank’s shares at $30.18 per share in cash. The acquisition, which will be subject to Entegra Bank’s shareholders approval, regulatory approvals and meeting of other customary closing conditions, is likely to be closed in the second half of this year.
On the transaction, Sandler O’Neill + Partners acted as financial advisor to Entegra. Smith, Anderson, Blount, Dorsett, Mitchell & Jernigan represented First Citizens in the transaction; while Hunton Andrews Kurth represented Entegra.
In January, Entegra Financial entered into a merger deal worth around $158.2m with SmartFinancial, which will be scrapped following the superior offer from First Citizens Bank.
Entegra Bank president and CEO Roger Plemens said: “We are pleased to announce this combination with First Citizens, which shares our customer focus and community banking approach.
“Not only does this represent a significantly higher price for our shareholders, we also believe that First Citizens’ size and resources will present more opportunities in the future for our customers and communities.”
Earlier this year, First Citizens Bank agreed to acquire South Carolina-based First South Bancorp, the holding company of First South Bank for $37.5m. The deal has been approved by First South Bancorp’s shareholders at a meeting held this week.