Eastern Bankshares, Century Bancorp To Merge In $642 Mln Deal

(RTTNews) - Eastern Bankshares Inc. (EBC) and Century Bancorp Inc. (CNBKA) said that they have entered into a all-cash merger agreement with an aggregate transaction value of $642 million.

The transaction comes less than six months after Eastern's initial public offering that raised approximately $1.7 billion in equity capital.

As per the terms of the deal, Century shareholders will receive $115.28 in cash for each share of Century Bancorp,'s common stock.

The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Eastern expects the transaction to be approximately 55% accretive to earnings on a fully synergized basis and to have an IRR of about 17%. Eastern will fund the purchase price with cash on hand from its balance sheet.

Eastern also announced a 33% increase to its quarterly dividend to $0.08 per share as part of its overall capital management strategy.

Eastern declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.08 per common share, payable on June 15, 2021, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on June 3, 2021.