Valley National Bancorp To Acquire CNLBancshare For $207 Mln - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - The Boards of Directors of Valley National Bancorp (VLY) and CNLBancshares, Inc. have entered into a merger agreement whereby the common shareholders of CNLBancshares will receive 0.75 of a share of Valley common stock for each CNLBancshares share they own.

This is subject to adjustment in the event Valley's average stock price falls below $8.80 or rises above $10.13 prior to closing.

The transaction is valued at an estimated $207 million, based on Valley's closing stock price on May 22, and includes the stock consideration of $16.2 million that will be paid to CNLBancshares stock option holders. The transaction is expected to be accretive to Valley's earnings within 12 months from closing.

The Boards of Directors of both companies have unanimously approved the transaction, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015, subject to regulatory approvals, CNLBancshares shareholder approval and other customary closing conditions.

CNLBancshares, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, CNLBank, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, has about $1.4 billion in assets, $833 million in loans and $1.1 billion in deposits and maintains a branch network of 16 offices.

The acquisition supports the continued execution of Valley's Florida growth strategy, expanding the franchise into two new markets and strengthening two of Valley's legacy Florida markets.

Valley expects the merger will be a non-taxable transaction. The combined company is expected to have approximately $20.4 billion in assets, $14.6 billion in loans, $15.3 billion in deposits and 240 branches covering New Jersey, New York and Florida.

CNLBank's management will join Valley to help lead the continued development efforts in Florida and complement Valley's growth initiatives in the New Jersey and New York Metropolitan region.