RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 05, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- West Town Bancorp, Inc. (OTC PINK:WTWB) (“West Town”), announced today the successful completion of its acquisition of Sound Banking Company of Morehead City, NC (“Sound Bank”) thereby further expanding its presence into Eastern North Carolina. West Town will operate as a multi-bank holding company with Sound Bank and West Town Bank & Trust as separately chartered, wholly owned subsidiaries of West Town. With the Sound Bank acquisition, West Town has grown its consolidated assets to approximately $500 million as of the August 31, 2017 closing date.
Additionally, in connection with the acquisition, West Town closed on a private placement of securities to a limited number of institutional and other accredited investors for aggregate gross proceeds to the company of approximately $17.5 million, before fees and expenses. In connection with the closing of the sales, West Town issued 453,490 shares of voting common stock at a per share purchase price of $23.00 and issued 30,738 shares of a non-voting convertible perpetual preferred stock at a per share purchase price of $230.00.
With 2,587,669 shares of common stock outstanding following the transactions, West Town has a market capitalization of $62.6 million based on the closing price of $24.20 per share on Thursday, August 31, 2017.
Eric Bergevin, President and CEO of West Town commented, “We are pleased to complete our acquisition of Sound Bank. Sound Bank’s traditional community banking franchise rooted with a strong core deposit base will complement West Town Bank & Trust’s substantial fee income business driven by its national SBA/USDA lending platform. Additionally, the completion of the private placement positions our company for continued organic growth as well as the flexibility to look at additional acquisition opportunities in the future.”
Phil Collins, President of Sound Bank echoed, “We are excited about becoming part of the West Town organization, which we believe will result in a bigger, stronger, more profitable franchise and allow our customers to benefit from additional products and services.”
About West Town Bancorp, Inc.
West Town Bancorp, Inc., which is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, is a multi-bank holding company registered with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. West Town operates two banking subsidiaries – West Town Bank & Trust, an Illinois state bank with its main office in North Riverside, IL, and Sound Bank, a North Carolina-chartered bank with its main office in Morehead City, NC. Through its banking subsidiaries, West Town provides banking services and products through its offices in Illinois and North Carolina, including checking, savings, and time deposit accounts and residential mortgage, commercial, and installment loans.
Cautionary Language Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain “forward-looking statements.” Forward-looking statements are statements relating to future plans and expectations or beliefs about future events, and are thus prospective in nature. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are based on the beliefs and assumptions of West Town’s management and on the information available to management at the time that these disclosures were prepared. These statements can be identified by the use of words like "expect," "anticipate," "estimate" and "believe," variations of these words and other similar expressions. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors and risks that could cause or contribute to differences include, among others: Sound Bank’s business may not be not be integrated successfully or such integration may take longer to accomplish than expected; expected cost savings or revenue synergies related to the merger may not be realized; disruption from the merger may make it more difficult to maintain relationships with customers, associates, or suppliers; changes in the national and local economies or market conditions; changes in interest rates, deposit flows, loan demand and asset quality, including real estate and other collateral values; changes in banking regulations and accounting principles, policies or guidelines; and the impact of competition from traditional or new sources. These and other factors that may emerge could cause decisions and actual results to differ materially from current expectations. West Town assumes no obligation to revise, update, or clarify forward-looking statements to reflect events or conditions after the date of this release.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, any security of West Town.