State Bank Financial Corp. said it will acquire Georgia-Carolina Bancshares Inc., parent of Augusta-based First Bank of Georgia, for about $82 million in cash and stock.
The acquisition is State Bank’s second in two months, and it’s another sign of more consolidation among healthy community banks within the state, with banks also seeking buying opportunities outside Georgia.
Georgia community banks increasingly have healthier assets, deposits and loan portfolios. There are also fewer troubled banks that are potential takeover targets, leaving suitors to pursue healthier financial institutions.
In April, State Bank announced a deal to acquire Bank of Atlanta branches for $25 million in cash, giving State Bank a larger presence in Midtown and in Gwinnett County.
Also in April, First Landmark Bank said it will acquire Midtown Bank & Trust Co.. Both metro Atlanta banks called the deal a merger of equals, but financial terms were not disclosed.
Earlier this month, Fidelity Southern Corp., the Atlanta-based parent of Fidelity Bank, said it will buy about $200 million in deposits and take over five bank branches near Jacksonville and Orlando from First Southern Bancorp, which was recently acquired by Davenport, Fla., based CenterState Bank of Florida.
State Bank, which has about $2.6 billion in assets, has grown through acquisitions. Recent deals with healthier banks followed several years of gobbling up a dozen failed banks.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Joe Evans said the deal with First Bank will allow State Bank to enter the Augusta market. First Bank had about $523 million in assets, about $317 million in loans and about $428 million in deposits as of March 31.
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015.
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