BB&T will double size of its S.C. bank by acquiring LSB Bancshares for $116 million in a stock swap.

BB&T Financial Corp. announced an acquisition Wednesday which will more than double the size of its South Carolina bank.

BB&T, which is based in Wilson, N.C., said it planned to purchase LSB Bancshares Inc. of South Carolina, which has $646 million of assets, in a stock swap valued at $116 million.

BB&T, with $8 billion of assets overall, currently has $501 million of assets in the Palmetto State.

The pooling-of-interests transaction, which is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, equals 2.25 times LSB's book value.

"It's a full price, but it seems to be in line with prices currently being paid for community banks," said Kathryn Bissette, a banking analyst with Sterne, Agee & Leach in Atlanta.

BB&T's courtship of LSB has been lengthy. LSB, which is based in Lexington, first revealed in August 1992 that it was in negotiations to be acquired.

Local newspapers at the time identified BB&T as one of the suitors.

A week later, LSB said it had broken off the discussions and reaffirmed its "strategy of remaining independent."

LSB operates 24 offices in the central and southern parts of the state. BB&T entered south Carolina by purchasing a community bank in 1987. It maintains 19 offices in the northern and central parts of the state, principally Greenville and Columbia.

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