City National in Miami to buy TotalBank

City National Bank in Miami has ended months of speculation with its agreement to buy TotalBank.

The $9.8 billion-asset City National said in a press release Friday that it will pay $528 million for TotalBank, a $3.2 billion-asset unit of Banco Santander of Spain that is also based in Miami. City National, a unit of Banco de Credito e Inversiones in Chile, said buying TotalBank would make it the third-largest bank headquartered in Florida.

Gonzalo Villota

City National will have $7.8 billion of loans and $8.1 billion of deposits when the deal is completed. Rumors had circulated for months that the banks were discussing a merger.

“We are excited about this partnership and see an excellent future with TotalBank, a bank with which we share a long history in South Florida,” Jorge Gonzalez, City National’s president and CEO, said in the release. “The combined company will be a stronger, better positioned client-centric organization in the very desirable South Florida marketplace.”

City National sold itself to BCI in 2015, a deal that took more than two years to secure regulatory approval. The Miami bank is part of American Banker's ranking of the Best Banks to Work For this year.

Sandler O’Neill and Avila Rodriguez Fernandez Menna & Ferri advised City National, while UBS and Cravath Swaine & Moore advised Banco Santander. TotalBank was advised by Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson.