NewBridge Bancorp (NBBC) in Greensboro, N.C., has agreed to buy CapStone Bank (CPSE) in Raleigh, N.C.

The $1.7 billion-asset NewBridge said Friday that it plans to pay about $63.6 million in stock for the $376 million-asset CapStone. The deal values CapStone at $16.60 a share, or a 35% premium to its Thursday closing price. CapStone shareholders would own roughly 22% of NewBridge following the merger.

NewBridge would have about 40 branches in the state after the merger's expected closing in the first quarter.

"This combination will create one of the largest community banks in North Carolina and further establishes NewBridge Bank as a strategically active acquirer in the Carolinas and Virginia," Pressley Ridgill, NewBridge's chief executive, said in a press release. "CapStone's exceptional reputation and tremendous success in the Triangle are admired throughout the industry, and we are honored to be partnering with them."

The announcement comes just over a month after NewBridge won regulatory approval to buy Security Savings Bank in Southport, N.C. Security is extremely undercapitalized, and North Carolina regulators pushed the sale to NewBridge. That deal has not yet closed.

CapStone bought Patriot State Bank in Fuquay-Varina, N.C., for about $10.6 million in February.

FIG Partners advised NewBridge; Raymond James advised CapStone.