City Holding Co., one of the largest banking companies based in West Virginia, has agreed to acquire Virginia Savings Bancorp Inc. for about $13.4 million. The deal would provide City Holding an entrée into Virginia.
City Holding, of Cross Lanes, W.V., would pay for the $130 million-asset Virginia Savings with cash, stock or a combination of the two. The deal still has to be approved by regulators and shareholders of Front Royal, Va.-based Virginia Savings. The companies expect the deal to close in the first quarter.
The deal would give the $2.7 billion-asset City Holding five branches in Virginia. City Holding now operates more than 50 branches of its City National Bank unit in West Virginia and others in Kentucky and Ohio. Seven of City Holding's branches in West Virginia are located in the Eastern Panhandle, near the Virginia Savings Bank offices in northern Virginia.
"We have been interested in expanding into Virginia for several years and believe that the acquisition of VSB is a perfect first step for us," City Holding President and Chief Executive Charles R. "Skip" Hageboeck said in a press release. "This is a high-growth region."
City Holding received financial advice on the deal from Janney Montgomery Scott LLC and legal counsel from the Charleston law firm Jackson Kelly PLLC. Scott & Stringfellow and the law firm LeClairRyan PC advised Virginia Savings.
