Baton Rouge-based bank to buy Houma's Pedestal
Baton Rouge-based B1 bank has agreed to buy Pedestal Bank of Houma in a deal valued at about $211 million.
“We believe this partnership is a positive move that is consistent with our pursuit of enhancing not only the customer experience, but also the communities we serve," Pedestal President and CEO Mark Folse said in a news release. "Over the years, we have built relationships with the leadership team at Business First, and I am confident that our like-minded approach to customer service, employee relations and the creation of shareholder value will present positive opportunities for all involved.”
Pedestal, founded in 1999 as Coastal Commerce Bank, employs about 300 people across 22 branches in Louisiana, including half a dozen in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes. The others are in the Lafayette and Lake Charles areas. Pedestal has $1.2 billion in total assets, $900 million in loans and $1 billion in deposits.
Pedestal Bank reported pre-tax earnings of $20.5 million last year.
Business First Bancshares, B1's parent company, has about 350 employees across 26 branches in Louisiana and Texas. The bank has about $2.3 billion in assets, $1.7 billion in loans and $1.8 billion in deposits. The bank had been known as Business First Bank, but it rebranded itself last month.
The purchase will make B1 the third-largest Louisiana-headquartered bank, with total assets of about $3.5 billion.
“This is a transformative, franchise-building opportunity for our company,” said Jude Melville, President and CEO of Business First. “Pedestal Bank has for many years been a well-managed, high-performing competitor of ours, and teaming up with them grows our market share, broadens our shareholder base and strengthens our already deep talent pool. It’s the next step in our quest to be our region’s bank of choice.”
The transaction awaits routine regulatory approval. Following completion, B1 will expand its board of directors to 14 members, including 10 now on Business First's board and four with Pedestal. Folse will relocate to Baton Rouge to join b1BANK’s executive team.
The deal, approved unanimously by each company's board, will give Pedestal’s shareholders a combined $21.8 million in cash and 7.6 million shares of Business First’s common stock. As a result, former Pedestal shareholders will own about 36 percent of the combined company.
Based on Business First’s 20-day average share price of $24.88 as of Jan. 21, the transaction is valued at about $211.2 million. B1's stock trades on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker symbol BFST.
-- Executive Editor Keith Magill can be reached at 857-2201 or keith.magill@houmatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @CourierEditor.