As Ameris Bancorp prepares to move its top executives to the Downtown Southbank, the company is expanding its operations in Jacksonville even more by acquiring a local bank.
Ameris on Thursday morning announced a $96.6 million agreement to buy Jacksonville Bancorp Inc., parent company of The Jacksonville Bank.
Ameris is officially headquartered in Moultrie, Ga., but it recently signed a lease to move into the Riverplace Tower on the Southbank and post its name atop the 28-story building.
The acquisition of Jacksonville Bancorp “will accelerate our growth momentum in the greater Jacksonville, Fla., market,” Ameris CEO Edwin Hortman said in a news release.
Ameris has 11 branches in the Jacksonville metropolitan area and Jacksonville Bank has nine, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data.
Jacksonville Bank is the largest community bank headquartered in Jacksonville. But with $427 million in deposits as of June 30, it has just a 0.8 percent share of all deposits in the Jacksonville area, according to the FDIC data.
Ameris' Jacksonville branches have $518 million in deposits, giving it a 0.9 percent share.
Ameris will have a total of 101 branches in four states with $4.9 billion in deposits after completing the acquisition, which it expects to do in the first quarter of 2016.
Under the merger agreement, Ameris intends to pay 75 percent of the $96.6 million purchase price in stock and 25 percent in cash. Jacksonville Bancorp shareholders will receive either 0.5861 shares of Ameris stock or $16.50 in cash for their shares, which closed Wednesday at $14.94.
Ameris closed at $28.75 Wednesday, making the value of 0.5861 shares of its stock $16.85.
“We are excited to announce our merger with Ameris. We admire the strong commitment Ameris shows to customers and communities they serve, and we look forward to offering that experience to our customers,” Jacksonville Bancorp CEO Kendall Spencer said in the news release.