Synovus widens its reach

Merger makes company a top five regional bank in the Southeast

The parent of Florida Community Bank, which operates the second largest community bank in the state, is being acquired by Synovus Financial Corp. of Georgia for $2.9 billion, the two companies said Tuesday.

The merger means Synovus, which already maintains a substantial presence in Florida, will become a top five regional bank in the Southeast with $36 billion in deposits and $44 billion in assets. Florida Community Bank was founded in 2010, rising to become the second largest independent bank in the state behind BankUnited.

The all-stock deal, which is valued at $58.15 per FCB Financial Holdings share, is expected to close by the first quarter of 2019.

Synovus is the surviving institution in the transaction, which calls for FCB shareholders to receive 1.055 shares of Synovus common stock for each common share of FCB. Kent Ellert, CEO and president of FCB Financial Holdings, will become executive vice president of Synovus and serve as its Florida market president.

The stock price of Weston-based FCB plunged Tuesday by 11.74 percent or $6.95 to $52.25 in trading on the Nasdaq. Volume surpassed 2.9 million shares.

South Florida bank analyst Ken Thomas, president of Community Development Fund Advisors, predicted FCB’s employees and branches would remain as Synovus will need them.

“The bank is a well-run strong bank, very well known for doing small business lending,” he said of Synovus. “They’re going to come in and keep everybody in South Florida because they are going to keep

the branches.”

Thomas also forecast that Synovus will do more acquisition deals in South Florida. “They’re going to buy more banks and more branches,” he said.

Also on Tuesday, FCB Financial Holdings reported a second-quarter profit of $42.7 million. The company said earnings per share were 87 cents; adjusted for non-recurring costs, the figure came to 94 cents per share, which exceeded Wall Street expectations.