OceanFirst Financial Corp. announced recently it will merge with Flushing Financial Corp, in an all-stock transaction.
OceanFirst is the holding company for OceanFirst Bank, while Flushing Financial Corp. is the holding company for Flushing Bank. When the merger is complete, Flushing Bank will merge into OceanFirst in a $579 million transaction (based on OceanFirst’s closing stock price on Dec. 26). The merger will create a high-performing regional bank with a significant presence across New Jersey, Long Island and New York markets, the banks said.
“This acquisition represents a natural extension of our proven growth strategy,” Christopher Maher, chairman and CEO of OceanFirst, said. “We are bringing together two highly complementary organizations, leveraging Flushing’s 95+ year distribution channel in Long Island and New York alongside OceanFirst’s relationship-driven business model and robust products and services. We share a disciplined credit philosophy and long-term commitment to the communities we serve and are highly confident that this combination will enable us to better support our customers and deliver meaningful value for shareholders.”
The merger will create a high performing regional bank, the companies said. Additionally, OceanFirst announced it has entered into an investment agreement with affiliates of Warburg Pincus LLC for a commitment that Warburg will invest $225 million for newly issued equity securities subject to the closing of the merger. The move accelerates OceanFirst’s growth in New York by expanding its presence within the Suffolk, Nassau, Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan counties. Following the close of the merger, the combined company is expected to have $23 billion in total assets, $17 billion in total loans and $18 billion in total deposits across 71 retail branches.
OceanFirst concurrently announced that it has entered into an investment agreement with affiliates of funds managed by Warburg Pincus LLC ( “Warburg Pincus”), which is fully committed to invest $225 million for newly issued equity securities subject to the closing of the merger.