WSFS to acquire Beneficial Bancorp
Deal expected to be final in early 2019
WILMINGTON, DEL. » Two area banks with a combined banking history of more than 350 years have announced plans to merge — in a transaction estimated at $1.5 billion.
WSFS Financial Corp. (WSFS) and Beneficial Bancorp Inc. (BENEFICIAL) jointly announced Wednesday that they had signed a definitive agreement to combine. As part of the acquisition, Beneficial Bank, the wholly owned subsidiary of Beneficial, will merge into WSFS Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of WSFS.
Once completed, the transaction will create the largest locallyheadquartered community bank in the Greater Delaware Valley, according to company information.
With $13 billion in assets, the combined bank will fill a longstanding service gap in the Delaware Valley market between larger regional and national banks and smaller community banks, according to WSFS Chairman, President and CEO Mark A. Turner.
“This is an historic combination,” Turner said in a press release. Turner will become WSFS’ Executive Chairman on January 1, 2019. “Together, we are poised and positioned to serve customers, to capture good market share, to expand the reach of our proven successful business model, and to deliver sustainable high performance for years to come.”
Under the terms of the agreement — which has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies — stockholders of Beneficial will receive 0.3013 shares of WSFS common stock and $2.93 in cash for each share of Beneficial common stock. Based on WSFS’ closing price as of August 7, the per share value equates to $19.61 for Beneficial stockholders, according to the release.
“We strongly believe there is value in partnering with WSFS and combining the strengths of our institutions,” Gerard P. Cuddy, president and CEO of Beneficial said in the release. “This is a sound decision for Beneficial, our stockholders, our employees and the communities we serve.”
“This partnership and our delivery transformation aligns with our strategic plan,” said Rodger Levenson, WSFS’ executive vice president and chief operating officer in the release. Levenson will become president and CEO of WSFS on January 1, 2019. “Our combination with Beneficial creates the ideal opportunity to transform WSFS’ customer delivery and back office systems that will secure our competitive edge in a fast-changing financial services industry.”