Renasant in Tupelo, Miss., has agreed to buy KeyWorth Bank in Johns Creek, Ga.
The $5.9 billion-asset Renasant said in a press release Tuesday that it will pay about $59 million, or $15 a share, in stock for the $389 million-asset KeyWorth. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter.
Renasant said that buying KeyWorth, which has $246 million in loans and $336 million in deposits, will be immediately accretive to it earnings and tangible book value per share.
KeyWorth “is a high-quality commercial bank with a strong credit culture and an attractive customer base,” Robin McGraw, Renasant’s chairman and chief executive, said in the release. “We believe this combination will be additive to Renasant's growing Georgia franchise and will provide us with additional scale and commercial banking expertise in the Atlanta market."
Renasant acquired Heritage Financial Group in Albany, Ga., earlier this year.
James Pope, KeyWorth's chief executive, will become chairman of Renasant’s Atlanta Metro Division, while Neil Stevens, KeyWorth's president and chief operating officer, will become president of the same division.
Renasant was advised by Raymond James and Phelps Dunbar. KeyWorth was advised by Banks Street Partners and Alston & Bird.
The deal comes a day after Bank of the Ozarks agreed to buy Community & Southern Holdings in Atlanta for $800 million.
