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S.C. Bank and Trust to acquire SunBank parent company in November
By Shelia Watson
Contributing Writer
Columbia-based S.C. Bank and Trust has signed a merger agreement with Murrells Inlet-based SunBank to create a financial institution with $1.8 billion in combined assets. The deal is expected to close on Nov. 18 pending approval at the shareholders meeting on Oct. 20.
Under terms of the agreements, Sun Bancshares Inc., the holding company for SunBank, will merge into SCBT in exchange for cash and shares of SCBT common stock. SunBank will join SCBT Financial Corp. as its third subsidiary bank. SCBT Financial also owns SCBT in Rock Hill and SCBT of the Piedmont.
SCBT will pay consideration of approximately $21.87 million consisting of $4.37 million cash and no more than 564,387 shares of SCBT common stock for Sun Bancshares’ issued and outstanding shares of common stock. SCBT also anticipates paying an aggregate of $2.86 million in cash to the holders of outstanding options and warrants of Sun Bancshares.
SunBank currently has deposits of approximately $90 million, loans of approximately $82 million and assets exceeding $100 million.
The transaction is anticipated to be less than 1% dilutive to SCBT’s 2006 GAAP earnings per share and accretive in 2007.
The merger will create the fourth largest banking company headquartered in South Carolina, with three subsidiary banks that include 39 offices in 14 counties. In addition to the $1.8 billion in assets, the combined banks are expected to have in excess of $1.4 billion in loans and in excess of $1.4 billion in deposits.
“We think it’s a really good combination,” said Thomas Bouchette, president and CEO of Sun Bancshares. “We’ll retain our separate status as a subsidiary bank under the S.C. Bank and Trust holding company, which owns SC National Bank and Trust and SunBank.”
John Pollok, chief operating office of SCBT, will join the board of SunBank, and Dalton B. Floyd Jr., chairman of SunBancshares, will join the board of SCBT Financial Corporation. There are no anticipated changes to the senior management team of SunBank or SCBT, and no job cuts are planned.
For the present time, SunBank will continue to operate under the SunBank name, as a separate subsidiary of SCBT Financial Corporation. One of the benefits to the merger is the consolidation of some support functions and data processing into SCBT. The total post-merger cost savings are estimated to be 22% annually.
“The reason the merger fits so well is SCBT’s policy of local decision-making,” said Bouchette. “SCBT operates as a larger community bank, but we still have all our decision-making autonomy. In the overall structure, we’ll still operate as SunBank.”
The merger will continue SCBT’s growth along the coast, giving the bank its first presence in Georgetown and Horry counties. Although SCBT currently has no presence in Charleston County, a branch is located in Summerville.
Bouchette said that prior to the merger discussions, SunBank had had some aspiration to move into the Charleston market. “That will become more of a corporation strategy with SCBT. Our focus right now is on Georgetown and Horry counties, in building out SunBank, gaining market share and focusing on Myrtle Beach and the surrounding area. But we do have an office in Georgetown, and that makes a move into Charleston County more of a natural progression.”
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