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Seacoast to Acquire Fourth Street Banking Company
Seacoast continues its expansion in the dynamic Tampa-St. Petersburg MSA STUART, Fla., Jan. 23, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Seacoast Banking Corporation of
About this update from Seacoast Banking Corporation Of Florida
[{"type":"text","content":"Seacoast continues its expansion in the dynamic Tampa-St. Petersburg MSA\nSTUART, Fla., Jan. 23, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida (NASDAQ:SBCF) (“Seacoast”), the holding company for Seacoast National Bank (“Seacoast Bank”), today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Fourth Street Banking Co. (\"Fourth Street\"), the holding company for Freedom Bank of St. Petersburg. The transaction will be Seacoast's third in the last three years in the Tampa-St. Petersburg metropolitan statistical area (\"MSA\"), the second largest and one of the fastest growing MSAs in Florida.\n Pursuant to the terms of the merger agreement, Freedom Bank will be merged with and into Seacoast Bank. Organized in 2005, Freedom Bank has deposits of approximately $276 million and loans of $249 million and the merger will increase Seacoast’s deposits in the Tampa-St. Petersburg MSA by 87% to approximately $679 million. Seacoast plans to add Freedom Bank’s two branches to the four it currently operates in the market. Seacoast entered the Tampa-St. Petersburg MSA with the acquisition of GulfShore Bank and NorthStar Bank in 2017. The Tampa-St. Petersburg MSA’s economy continues its expansion, outpacing most of the U.S. Its unemployment rate at 2.7% per Florida Department of Economic Opportunity is lower than the state and national average. It also added 30,800 jobs in November, the second highest total among all MSAs in the state. The same source showed the region leading the state for job demand with 59,256 openings and for STEM jobs with 20,134 openings. “Seacoast has found a great opportunity to partner with Freedom Bank, strengthening our position in the attractive Tampa-St. Petersburg market,” said Dennis S. Hudson III, Seacoast's Chairman and CEO. “This is an exceptional addition to our two previous acquisitions in the state’s second largest MSA. We look forward to welcoming Freedom Bank’s employees and customers to Seacoast Bank.” “In creating Freedom Bank in 2005, we sought to fill a need in the market for local bankers who knew their customers by name and could make decisions based on local market conditions. We are delighted to partner with Seacoast, who has been serving Florida consumers and businesses for more than 90 years with a very similar philosophy,” said Cathy P. Swanson, CEO of Freedom Bank. “We...