Tampa-based Gries Investment Funds has moved a step closer to completing its first bank acquisition.
The Federal Reserve has approved the fund's bid to form a bank holding company in order to buy Southern Commerce Bank in Tampa, it said Monday. In December, the fund agreed to buy the $81 million-asset lender from multi-bank holding company Dickinson Financial Corporation of Kansas City, Mo., for $15.1 million, the Tampa Bay Business Journal
Gries Investment Funds provided seed capital to form the new holding company, 4830 Acquisition Company. It expects the deal to close in the second quarter.
Southern Commerce Bank has four traditional branches in the Tampa area and six branches inside Wal-Mart stores.
Anthony Leo, chief executive of 4830 Acquisition Company, would be Southern Commerce's chief executive following the acquisition and Gries Investment Funds Principal Robert Gries would be its chairman. Leo is the former CEO of Old Harbor Bank and Peninsula Bank, both in Florida. Gries is the former owner of the Tampa Bay Storm, an Arena Football League team, the Business Journal said.
Gries Investment Funds executives were not immediately available for comment.
"Our business plan focuses on expanding the bank's existing sources of fee income and providing new fee-based services," said Gries in the news release. "This approach offers our customers a wider range of services than typically provided by other community banks."
