Greenville, South Carolina-based United Community Banks will acquire South Miami, Florida-based First Miami Bancorp and its wholly owned subsidiary First National Bank of South Miami in a $115.9 million, all-stock deal, the banks announced Monday.
FNBSM operates three offices in the Miami metropolitan area and as of Dec. 31 had $1 billion in assets, $594 million in total loans and $867 million in deposits.
Additionally, within its private banking, trust and wealth management arm, FNBSM has approximately $310 million in assets under management.
United Community CEO Lynn Harton said the bank is “extremely pleased” to expand its presence in Miami with the FNBSM acquisition.
“I know firsthand the strength and vibrancy of the Miami market from my past career experience. I look forward to working with the leadership team of FNBSM to continue to grow in one of the most attractive metropolitan areas in the country,” Harton said.
Harton has at least two decades of experience as a bank executive throughout the southeast at BB&T, Union Planters Bank, Regions Financial Corp., The South Financial Group, and TD Bank, according to his LinkedIn. He’s been at United since 2012.
FNBSM attracted United’s interest with its culture, strong credit focus and ability to maintain a solid core deposit base in the competitive Miami market, he explained.
“We are focused on building talented, service-minded teams who are empowered to build communities one customer at a time,” Harton said.
Under the terms of the agreement, which was unanimously approved by the boards of both banks, First Miami shareholders will receive 40.2685 shares of United Community common stock for each outstanding share of First Miami common stock.
The deal is expected to be accretive to United Community’s earnings per share, excluding transaction costs, by approximately $0.09 per share, or 3% in 2024, according to a press release. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter, subject to customary conditions.
“The success of [FNBSM] since its founding over 70 years ago has far exceeded our expectations and it is thanks to the dedicated employees who have made it the best community-focused, service-oriented bank in the Miami area,” First Miami Chair W. Rockwell Wirtz said in a prepared statement.
“We are extremely proud of the company we have built together and believe that a partnership with United represents an excellent opportunity for us to continue to serve our customers at the highest level. We value United’s commitment to its employees, customers and communities because that has always been what we stand for,” Wirtz said.
The pending transaction comes six weeks after United Community completed its acquisition of Huntsville, Alabama-based Progress Financial, which brought $1.5 billion in deposits into its coffers and added 14 branches to its footprint. With the Progress Financial deal, United Community acquired four Florida locations, tacking onto the Florida presence it gained in 2020 with the $180 million cash-and-stock acquisition of Three Shores Bancorp of Orlando.
