In Brief: Republic of Fla. Buying 9 Supermarket Branches

Florida's Republic Security Financial Corp. has a deal to buy nine supermarket branches from a smaller institution.

The West Palm Beach-based company, Florida's largest remaining commercial bank, would buy the branches housed inside Kash 'N Karry stores from First National Bank of Central Florida, along with about $28 million of deposits, for an undisclosed price.

Eight of the branches are in metropolitan Tampa Bay. The other is in Ocala, Fla. First National, which has $132 million of assets, is based in Longwood, 80 miles east of Tampa.

The deal is "a cost-effective opportunity for Republic to further expand into west and central Florida," said Rudy Schupp, chairman and chief executive officer of $3 billion-asset Republic Security. These branches, coupled with the company's previously announced deal for Northside Bank of Tampa, would give Republic Security 16 branches on the state's west coast.

Republic Security operates 97 branches in Florida.

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