Community & Southern Bank, a young Atlanta bank that grew through acquisitions into the 4th-largest based in Georgia, is itself being bought in an $800 million deal.
The planned all-stock acquisition by Bank of the Ozarks, based in Little Rock, Ark., will combine two banks that took over dozens of institutions since the financial crisis. Most takeover targets had failed or had been crippled by losses on soured real estate loans. But both banks more recently have been buying healthy institutions.
The combined banks will have more than 200 branches in nine states, including 75 in Georgia.
“This combination is a hand in glove fit,” Bank of the Ozarks CEO George Gleason said in a press release late Monday. “The synergies created by our highly complementary combined network of 75 Georgia banking offices, with virtually no overlap, will give us a powerful presence in Georgia.”
The planned acquisition, which is subject to state and federal regulators’ approval, is Bank of the Ozarks’ 14th deal since 2010. The firm is Arkansas’ fifth largest bank based in that state, with $9.3 billion in assets.
Community & Southern, launched in 2010 by former bank regulator Pat Frawley, also has done 14 acquisitions since 2010. It has $4.4 billion in assets and 47 branches in Georgia and one in Florida.
Frawley, Community & Southern’s CEO, will head the two banks’ Georgia operations.
Earlier this month, Community & Southern completed its last acquisition, of branches, loans and deposits of CertusBank, in Greenville, S.C.
