The last remaining independent bank serving only the Jacksonville market is being acquired by an out-of-state banking company.
FirstAtlantic Financial Holdings on Wednesday announced an agreement to merge into Birmingham, Alabama-based National Commerce Corp.
The merger agreement calls for FirstAtlantic to continue to operate under the FirstAtlantic Bank trade name with its existing management team after it is acquired by NCC.
NCC is the parent company of National Bank of Commerce. The bank has one Jacksonville area office in St. Augustine, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data.
First Atlantic shareholders can receive either $17.25 in cash or 0.44 shares of NCC stock for each of their FirstAtlantic shares. FirstAtlantic shares closed at $13.70 Wednesday, before the merger was announced late in the afternoon.
FirstAtlantic has eight offices, all in Northeast Florida, according to the FDIC. Four offices are in Jacksonville, two in St. Johns County and two in Clay County.
The bank opened in 2007, just as the financial crisis hit the nation's banks. That gave FirstAtlantic an advantage because it was not saddled with bad mortgage loans made in the early 2000s that impacted other banks.
FirstAtlantic reported earnings of $1.8 million, or 29 cents a share, in the first half of this year. Total assets were $462 million as of June 30.
NCC had earnings of $12.4 million, or 92 cents a share, in the first six months of the year, with assets of $2.4 billion as of June 30.
“We are excited to partner with (CEO) Mitch Hunt and his team at FirstAtlantic, and we look forward to the opportunity to work together to build a great company,” NCC Chief Executive Richard Murray said in a news release.
“The FirstAtlantic franchise is a great fit for us, and we are optimistic about the potential for the Jacksonville market,” he said.