Valley National Bancorp, which operates in New Jersey and New York, has agreed to acquire Westchester Bank Holding Corp. in White Plains, New York, for $220 million.
Valley said the acquisition would give it a physical footprint and additional commercial lending expertise in the affluent Westchester County market. Valley already lends into the market.
Westchester Bank has assets of $1.3 billion, loans of nearly $1 billion and deposits of $1.1 billion. It has seven branches.
The combined company would have 233 branches, $43 billion of assets and $34 billion of loans and $34 billion of deposits.
The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter and the acquisition would be 1% accretive to Valley's earnings at closing.
While this is a relatively small deal for Valley, the company’s chief executive said it is “strategically compelling” because it fills in a key geographic gap within the buyer's metro New York franchise. In addition to New York and New Jersey, Valley has branches in Florida and Alabama.
“The ability to offer Valley’s comprehensive suite of financial solutions to Westchester’s commercial customers, along with the support of our larger balance sheet and significant capital resources, should drive meaningful growth for Valley in the Westchester County market,” Ira Robbins, Valley's chairman and CEO, said in a press release Tuesday.
Westchester Bank Holding shareholders will receive 229.645 shares of Valley common stock for each share of Westchester common stock they own. Based on Valley’s closing stock price on Monday, Westchester’s stockholders will receive approximately $210 million in Valley common stock. Existing Westchester options will be cashed out for $10 million.
