New Jersey-based OceanFirst Financial has agreed to acquire two US bank holding companies — Two River Bancorp and Country Bank Holding Company (CYHC) — in separate transactions worth a total of around $285m (£236.62m).
OceanFirst Financial is the parent company of OceanFirst Bank, which operates in New Jersey, Philadelphia and New York City.
In the first transaction, OceanFirst Financial will buy New Jersey-based Two River Bancorp, the parent company of Two River Community Bank, for around $182.8m (£151.77m).
Two River, which was founded in 2000, is a full-service community bank operating 14 branch locations and two loan production offices in Monmouth, Union, Ocean, and Essex Counties. As of 30 June 2019, the community bank had $1.2bn (£1bn) in assets, $953.1m (£791.29m) in loans, $972.6m (£807.48m) in deposits and shareholder equity of $121.4m (£100.79m).
Terms of OceanFirst Financial, Two River merger
As per the merger agreement, shareholders of Two River will receive 0.6663 shares of OceanFirst and $5.375 (£4.46) in cash for each of their shares. The transaction values each of Two River’s shares at around $20.79 (£17.26).
In the second transaction, OceanFirst Financial will acquire CYHC, the parent company of Country Bank, a chartered commercial bank in New York State. Established in 1988, Country Bank offers banking services to small businesses and individuals via its network of five branches located across the metropolitan New York market.
As of 30 June 2019, CYHC had $783.4m (£650.4m) in assets, $649.7m (£539.4m) in deposits, $592.4m (£491.83m) in loans, and $67.5m (£56.04m) in shareholders’ equity.
Terms of OceanFirst Financial, CYHC merger
As per the CYHC merger agreement, the New York-based firm will be issued 2,000 shares of OceanFirst’s common stock for each of its shares.
The two transactions are expected to be wrapped up in the first quarter of 2020 subject to shareholders’ approvals of Two River and CYHC, required regulatory approvals, and the respective customary closing conditions.
OceanFirst chairman and CEO Christopher Maher said: “We are excited for both Two River and CYHC shareholders to join the OceanFirst family, as both institutions share a similar operating philosophy and this provides us an opportunity to further enhance our presence in New Jersey and build upon our lending initiatives in metropolitan New York.
“We believe the addition of these two high-performing franchises will further leverage the significant investments we have made in people, processes and technology and positively impact our earnings potential.”
