United Community Banks, Inc. and Aquesta Financial Holdings, Inc. announced today a definitive agreement for United to acquire Aquesta, including its wholly-owned subsidiary, Aquesta Bank.
Aquesta is headquartered in Cornelius, NC, a northern and fast-growing suburb of Charlotte situated on Lake Norman. It has a premier franchise with an experienced management team led by President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Engel, who founded Aquesta Bank in 2006. The bank’s high-touch customer service is delivered to retail and business customers through a network of nine branches located in Charlotte’s most attractive markets and also in the coastal city of Wilmington, NC. Aquesta also has successful loan production offices in Raleigh, as well as Greenville and Charleston, SC. As of March 31, Aquesta reported total assets of $752 million, with total loans of $576 million. Additionally, $586 million, or 92 percent, of its deposit base consists of non-CD core deposits.
“This transaction is consistent with our desire to expand into attractive and fast-growing markets that we know well,” said Lynn Harton, chairman and chief executive officer of United. “We have been investing in Charlotte over the past several years and have commercial banking and mortgage teams already in place. Aquesta is an exciting opportunity for us to increase our presence and accelerate our growth with a high-quality company that shares our values of customer service, employee engagement and community development.”
Jim Engel, president and chief executive officer of Aquesta, stated, “From the beginning, we have focused on developing a business model with a focus on relationship banking in Charlotte and other key markets in the Carolinas, which are some of the most attractive and fastest growing markets in the Southeast and the country. We believe that we have been successful at that. However, to continue growing and becoming more profitable, we needed a partner who can provide us the opportunity to better serve our customers with a larger balance sheet and expanded products and services to offer. Our partnership with the United team provides just that, and I believe the synergies that exist between our companies will result in tremendous success for both sides.”
The transaction value is estimated at approximately $131 million, including approximately $12 million in value for outstanding options and warrants to acquire Aquesta common stock. The transaction structure includes an election for Aquesta stockholders to receive their consideration in cash, subject to a limitation that no more than 30% of the total consideration paid by United will be in cash. The stock portion of the merger consideration is based upon 0.6386 shares of United common stock being issued in exchange for each share of Aquesta common stock. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to United’s earnings per share by approximately $0.06 to $0.09 in 2022, depending upon the mix of United shares and cash elected by Aquesta stockholders and is consistent with United’s stated acquisition criteria pertaining to tangible book value and targeted internal rates of return. The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2021 and is subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approval as well as the approval of Aquesta’s stockholders.
Hovde Group, LLC acted as financial advisor to United, and Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP served as United’s legal advisor. Piper Sandler & Co. served as Aquesta’s financial advisor, and Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP served as Aquesta’s legal advisor.