PEOPLES BANK TO ACQUIRE VANTAGE FINANCIAL, LLC

About this update from Peoples Bancorp Inc.

[{"type":"text","content":"MARIETTA, Ohio, Feb. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Peoples Bancorp Inc. (\"Peoples\") (NASDAQ: PEBO) announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, Peoples Bank, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Vantage Financial, LLC (\"Vantage\"), a nationwide provider of equipment financing headquartered in Excelsior, Minnesota. Under the terms of the agreement, Peoples Bank will purchase 100% of the equity of Vantage for total cash consideration of $54 million. Peoples Bank will also repay approximately $21 million in recourse debt on behalf of Vantage. Vantage offers mid-ticket equipment leases primarily for business essential information technology equipment across a wide-array of industries and had lease assets of approximately $147 million as of December 31, 2021. \nUpon completion of the transaction, Vantage will become a subsidiary of Peoples Bank. The substantial majority of Vantage's current leadership and associates are expected to continue in their positions, led by Vantage co-founder and CEO, William Foudray. Vantage co-founder and Chairman, Bob Murphy, plans to retire in March 2022 and will not be remaining with the company. As a subsidiary, Vantage will continue to operate under the name Vantage Financial, which will leverage Vantage's strong brand recognition within the equipment finance industry. The closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to occur in March 2022.\nAs a result of funding synergies, the transaction is expected to be 3% accretive to Peoples' earnings per share in 2022 and over 6% accretive to 2023 earnings per share. In addition, the transaction will result in approximately 8% tangible book value dilution with a projected earn-back of less than four years.\n\"We are excited to welcome Bill and his highly talented team to Peoples and look forward to Vantage continuing its impressive track record of originating high quality assets,\" said Chuck Sulerzyski, President and Chief Executive Officer of Peoples. He continued, \"The addition of Vantage to the Peoples suite of product offerings will allow us to build upon our recent success with our North Star Leasing acquisition, while also becoming a top 100 U.S. leasing business based on combined assets.\"\n\"My team and I are thrilled with the opportunity to partner with Chuck and the Peoples team. We believe...

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