The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. to merge into WSFS
WSFS Financial Corp. and Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. jointly announced Wednesday that they have signed a definitive merger agreement to merge Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. with WSFS Financial Corp. in a transaction valued at approximately $976.4 million.
Simultaneously with the merger, The Bryn Mawr Trust Company, the wholly owned subsidiary of Bryn Mawr, will merge into WSFS Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of WSFS.
The merger agreement has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies. The transaction is expected to close early in the fourth quarter of 2021, pending customary approvals by regulators and stockholders of both companies.
Under the terms of the agreement, stockholders of Bryn Mawr will receive 0.90 of a share of WSFS common stock for each share of Bryn Mawr common stock. The per share value equates to an implied value of $48.55 for Bryn Mawr stockholders based on the closing price of WSFS stock on March 9, 2021.
“This combination aligns with our strategic plan,” Rodger Levenson, WSFS’ chairman, president and CEO, said in the release. “Combining with Bryn Mawr allows us to accelerate our longterm strategic objectives, including scale to continue to invest in our delivery and talent transformations.”
He added that the combination will result in the sixth largest bank-affiliated wealth management and trust business nationwide, under $100 billion in assets.
“Together, we are poised and positioned to continue to serve and outperform for all our constituents, and to deliver sustainable high performance for years to come,” he added.
“We strongly believe in the value creation by combining with WSFS and enhancing the strengths of our institutions,” Frank Leto, president and CEO of Bryn Mawr, said, in the release. “This is a sound decision for Bryn Mawr, our stockholders, our clients and the communities we serve.” He added that WSFS has “deep roots” in the region, “and the utmost focus on doing the right thing for our clients.”
After closing, Leto will join the Boards of Directors of WSFS Financial and WSFS Bank along with two mutually agreed upon current directors of Bryn Mawr’s board.
Bryn Mawr Bank Corp. has $5.4 billion in corporate assets and $19 billion in wealth assets as of Dec. 31, 2020. The company operates 41 banking locations, seven wealth management offices and two insurance and risk management locations in Montgomery, Chester, Delaware, Philadelphia,
and Dauphin counties; New Castle County in Delaware; and Mercer and Camden counties in New Jersey.
WSFS anticipates consolidating approximately 30% of the combined banking offices due to geographic overlap and optimization opportunities within the network, according to the release.
WSFS expects pre-tax merger and restructuring costs of approximately $127 million and to achieve annual cost synergies of approximately $73 million, once fully phased in by 2023. The merger is expected to be accretive to WSFS’ earnings per share in 2022, excluding the one-time merger and restructuring costs noted above, and 13.4% accretive once all synergies are achieved in 2023, generating an internal rate of return (IRR) of approximately 18.0%.
The combination is WSFS’ ninth since 2010, including traditional banks and other fee-based businesses in southeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware.
Headquartered in Delaware and the Greater Philadelphia region, WSFS Bank operates from 112 offices, 89 of which are banking offices, located in Pennsylvania (52), Delaware (42), New Jersey (16), Virginia (1) and Nevada (1) and provides comprehensive financial services including commercial banking, retail banking, cash management and trust and wealth management.