Home BancShares to Buy Florida Business BancGroup

Home Bancshares in Conway, Ark., has agreed to buy Florida Business BancGroup in Tampa, Fla.

The $7.5 billion-asset Home said in a press release Wednesday that it will pay $101.6 million in cash and stock for the $541 million-asset parent of Bay Cities Bank. The deal is expected to close late in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter.

Florida Business BancGroup has six branches, a loan production office, $392 million in loans and $461 million in deposits.

"This is a smart, strategic acquisition for Home which allows us to increase our market share in the Tampa area, while continuing to increase shareholder value with disciplined pricing," John W. Allison, Home's chairman, said in the release. "There is no dilution in this transaction for our shareholders. It will be immediately accretive to diluted earnings per share, book value and tangible book value on day one."

Home, an active consolidator, has been scouting for more deals in Florida after buying branches that belonged to Doral Bank. Allison told analysts during a recent conference call that Home was actively bidding on three banks that could collectively add $2 billion in assets.

"Will we get them? I don't know," he said. "We probably weren't the highest bidder in the pack, but we certainly are the best bidder in the pack. So we'll see how that shakes out."