The Houston-based holding company that acquired Starkville-based Cadence Bank last year has assumed control of a Birmingham, Ala.-based bank closed Friday by the FDIC.
Community Bancorp agreed to assume all of the deposits and acquire substantially all the assets of Superior Bank, the company said in a release. Superior Bank simultaneously entered into an 80 percent loss share agreement with the FDIC with respect to certain assets.
Superior was one of more than a half-dozen troubled banks closed nationwide by the government on Friday. Also changing hands was Carthage-based Heritage Bank, which has branches stretching into Jackson and throughout central Mississippi. Heritage”s operations were taken over by Jackson-based Trustmark.
Included in the CBC-Superior transaction are 73 retail branches and banking centers across Alabama and Florida; six mortgage offices in Alabama, Florida and Tennessee, and 24 consumer finance offices, 16 of which operate under the name First Commercial Credit and eight as Superior Financial Services.
No Superior Bank customer lost any money or deposit, and Superior Bank branches opened Saturday as usual. Superior customers will have access to their accounts, and depositors will continue to be insured as prescribed by FDIC guidelines.
CBC said it intends to add services, products and make enhancements for its customers in the future.
“We are pleased to be joining forces with the Superior Bank team,” Paul B. Murphy Jr., CBC”s chief executive officer, said in a release. “It is a win-win for Superior Bank customers, employees and the local communities in which we operate. Customers can rest assured they are now part of one of the best capitalized banks in Alabama and Florida and throughout the Southeast. In addition, this transaction represents a sound strategic move for Community Bancorp and an exciting growth opportunity as we continue to build our competitive banking franchise in the Southeast.”
The acquisition is CBC”s second since its inception last year, when it bought Starkville-based Cadence Bank and took the bank private. Cadence announced the buyout by CBC in October, and the deal went into effect in March. Cadence shareholders received $2.50 in cash for each Cadence common share. Community Bancorp also offered to purchase the $44 million of Cadence preferred stock issued to the U.S. Department of the Treasury under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, for $38 million in cash.
Tthe Superior acquisition “marks an important step in the pursuit of its strategy to build community banks in targeted markets throughout the region,” CBC said in a release.
CBC now operates two banking platforms that stretch across five Southern states, with a total of 111 branches and $4.5 billion in assets, CBC said.
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