Home Bancshares Completes Florida Bank Deal, Acquisition Worth Just Over $100 Million
by October 1, 2015 1:26 pm 184 views
Home Bancshares Inc. on Thursday announced that its Centennial Bank subsidiary had completed the acquisition of Florida Business BancGroup Inc.’s (FBBI) Bay Cities Bank arm in Tampa, Fla., a deal first announced in June at a transaction value of $101 million.
The agreement will allow the two parent companies, Home Bancshares and FBBI to merge into each other, and the Centennial and Bay Cities operating subsidiaries to do the same.
“Acquiring Bay Cities is a smart and strategic deal for Home Bancshares,” said Home Bancshares Chairman John Allison. “This merger is another step in the right direction for our company as we continue our discipline of executing financially attractive transactions immediately accretive to diluted earnings per share, book and tangible book values.”
“This acquisition provides great opportunities for FBBI shareholders, customers and bankers,” added Gregory Bryant, president and CEO of Bay Cities. “By joining a proven team such as Centennial, our customers will benefit from a broader range of products and services and our employees can continue to provide outstanding service.”
At the close of the deal, FBBI had nearly $542.4 million in total assets, $415.8 million in loans, and $471.5 million in deposits, bank officials said. With the completion of the acquisition, Centennial now operates 80 branches in Arkansas, 64 branches in Florida, 6 branches in South Alabama and a loan production office in New York City.
“Centennial Bank welcomes its new Bay Cities customers and looks forward to this expansion in Central Florida,” said Tracy French, President and Chief Executive Officer of Centennial Bank. “With our strong commitment to community banking, we are excited about heightening our presence in the Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg, and Sarasota markets. The Bay Cities management group will complement our already successful market leadership teams.”
Under the terms of the deal, Home Bancshares will issue approximately 2,080,000 shares of its common stock valued at approximately $84.2 million as of Oct. 1, 2015, plus approximately $20.3 million in cash in exchange for all outstanding shares of FBBI common stock.
In Wednesday’s trading session, Home Bancshares stock closed at $40.50, just off its 52-week high of $41.30 touched on Aug. 6. The Conway-based regional banking group has traded in the range of $27.68 and $41.30 over the past year.