Eagle, Alliance Terminate Merger

Eagle Bancorp Inc. in Bethesda, Md., and Alliance Bankshares Corp. in Chantilly, Va., have called off their plans to merge.

The companies said in a press release that Monday that "irreconcilable differences of opinion regarding a number of matters" had developed and, as such, the boards had decided to terminate their agreement.

The companies announced in July that the $3.2 billion-asset Eagle would buy the $535 million-asset Alliance for roughly $31.2 million in stock. The deal would have been just the second in Eagle's 13-year history and its first outside of Maryland.

Ronald D. Paul, Eagle's chairman and CEO, said that Eagle would continue expanding in northern Virginia by opening new branches. Eagle has opened branches in Arlington and Tysons Corner so far this year and plans to open offices in Reston and Merrifield within the next year.

William E. Doyle Jr., Alliance's president and chief executive, said in the press release that his company would continue "pursuing an affiliation with a strategic partner in order to gain scale, strengthen our capital base and generate attractive future returns for our shareholders."

Under the agreement, neither bank will pay a termination fee. Alliance is also free to pursue deals without restrictions.