The Entegra Bank branch on Carolina Way in Highlands will become a Select Bank branch in 2020, according to a release from First Citizens Bank that was made public on Monday.
First Citizens is in the final stages of completing a merger with Entegra Bank. A stipulation of the merger being approved by the U.S. Department of Justice antitrust division was the divestiture of three branches currently operating as Entegra Bank locations. Those locations were 473 Carolina Way in Highlands, 498 Main Street in Sylva and 30 Hyatt Road in Franklin.
“Part of the merger process is the DOJ looking at the markets of both companies and reviewing what a merger will do in terms of competitiveness in those markets,” Entegra Bank CEO Roger Plemmons said following the Dec. 2 announcement that the branches would be sold. “Because we have a pretty large market overlap with First Citizens, the DOJ determined that a divestiture was necessary to keep some of the markets competitive in terms of banking business.”
Select Bank has agreed to purchase all three of the branches being divested as part of the First Citizens-Entegra merger. Select Bank, headquartered in Dunn, North Carolina, was founded in 2000 and offers a range of retail, small business and commercial banking products and currently services at 18 locations in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
As part of the agreement, Select Bank will assume approximately $180 million in deposits and will purchase approximately $110 million in loans.
“We’re excited about extending our presence to these Western North Carolina communities and look forward to welcoming our new customers and employees to our bank in the days ahead,” William L. “Bill” Hedgepeth II, CEO of Select Bank, said in a written statement.
The purchase of the divested Entegra branches by Select Bank must be approved by the DOJ as part of the First Citizens-Entegra merger.
A letter of agreement between First Citizens and the DOJ, made public earlier this month, notes that First Citizens cannot reacquire any of the divested branches for a minimum of five years. The letter also states that if First Citizens closes any of its branches, or any of the other acquired Entegra Bank branches in Macon or Jackson counties, within three years of the merger being completed that those branches must also be sold or leased to another commercial bank.
