Frederick County National in Md. plans to buy Elkridge.

Frederick County National Bank Corp. of Frederick, Md., will acquire Elkridge National Bank Financial Corp. in a stock transaction valued at $10 million.

The $420 million-asset bank holding company announced last week that it signed a definitive agreement to exchange about 350,000 shares of its stock for all of the outstanding shares of Elkridge National.

"We think it's a nice fit," said A. Patrick Linton, president and chief executive of Frederick County National, which has been the most acquisitive and fastest-growing community bank in the Free State in the last year.

"This will extend us into a very strong adjacent market area, central Maryland."

Elkridge National Bank, the company's subsidiary, located about 10 miles south of Baltimore, brings with it three branches, located in Columbia, Glen Burhie, and Elkridge.

Its $80 million in assets will put Frederick County National over the $500 million-asset mark.

The acquisition, which is scheduled to be completed in the first half of 1995, is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, Mr. Linton said in a press release. Elkridge National will keep its name as a separate entity owned by Frederick County National.

This will be Frederick County National's first acquisition of a full bank. It has, however, acquired five branches of other banks in the past three years.

The most recent of these was the Damascus branch of the Bank of Baltimore.

This deal, which Mr. Linton expects will be completed by December, will bring $10 million in deposits to Frederick County National.

It will be the bank's 131h branch, Mr. Linton said.

"We're always looking for opportunities that make sense from a strategic standpoint" Mr. Urnton said.

"This one [Elkridge National] made a lot of sense for us."

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