Acadiana Business

IberiaBank purchasing Florida Gulf Bank

by Heather Miller

Lafayette-based IberiaBank, the publicly traded regional bank that's been rapidly spreading its footprint in the Southeast, announces plans to buy Florida Gulf Bank in an acquisition valued at more than $43 million. IberiaBank is making good on its plans to continue expanding its financial footprint in Florida: The Lafayette-based bank has agreed to purchase Florida Gulf Bank in a deal worth $43.7 million.

According to a report published on CBS News' website, IberiaBank executives say that pending shareholder approval, the acquisition could be finalized by the third quarter of this year. Florida Gulf Bank has eight offices in the Fort Meyers-Cape Coral market and boasts $350 million in assets, $262 million in loans and $279 million in deposits:
Iberiabank said that shareholders of Florida Gulf Bancorp will receive a fixed equivalent of $23 worth of Iberiabank common stock for each share of Florida Gulf Bancorp they own. In addition, Iberiabank will pay up to $4.4 million if certain Florida Gulf Bank loans are resolved within three years after the acquisition, Iberiabank said.

As of Dec. 31, Florida Gulf Bancorp listed $16.4 million in nonperforming assets, the product of bad loans. In 2011, the company said it earned $600,000 after taking a loan loss provision of $4 million for the year.

IberiaBank entered the Florida market in 2009 when it purchased two failed banks, Orion Bank in Naples and Century Bank in Sarasota. The publicly traded Lafayette-based bank, which has 173 banking offices in six states and mortgage reps in 12 statess, continued its Florida expansion in early 2011 when it purchased $700,000 in unspecified assets of Florida Trust Company.

The Florida Gulf Bank purchase comes a little more than a year after IberiaBank announced its acquistion of Metairie-based Omni Bank, a $40 million stock deal that carried IberiaBank into the top 5 ranking in the New Orleans area. The deal marked IberiaBank's first Louisiana acquisition in seven years. Three weeks after revealing its plans to buy Omni Bank, IberiaBank announced its acquisition of Cameron State Bank of Lake Charles, which added 22 branches and $706 million in assets to IberiaBank's portfolio.

The latest acquisition announcement also falls on the heels of IberiaBank's 125th birthday. The company celebrated last week with iPad giveaways, free gasoline and other events to commemorate the milestone.