Alabama National Bancorp, which has been expanding fast in Florida, announced another deal there Thursday - to buy the $325 million-asset Florida Choice Bank in Mount Dora for $110 million in cash and stock.
The buyer, a multibank holding company based in Birmingham, has made four acquisitions, all in Florida, since the beginning of 2003.
The latest deal would boost its assets to nearly $6 billion, more than half in Florida.
Mount Dora is a suburb of Orlando. The privately held Florida Choice, founded in 1999, has six branches in four central Florida counties, including one in Orlando.
William E. Matthews, Alabama National's chief financial officer, said it has wanted to expand in the Orlando market ever since entering in 1998 by buying Public Bancorp of St. Cloud, for $14 million.
"There's a lot of economic activity there, and in general it's just and attractive banking market," he said Thursday.
The population of Orange County, where Orlando is located, increased 10% from April 2000 to July 2004, faster than the state average and more than twice the national rate. The average household income in 2000 was $41,311, 6% above Florida's average, according to the Census Bureau.
Jim Schutz, an analyst with Sterne, Agee & Leach in Birmingham, said that Orlando is "absolutely a knockout market." Alabama National is paying a reasonable price - about 2.8 times Florida Choice's book value - to expand there, he said.
Mr. Matthews said that he expects his company to keep making deals in Florida and the greater Atlanta area - but not in Alabama. Since 1998 it has bought one bank in the Atlanta area, seven in Florida, and only one in its home state.
"We have been and will continue to expand in Florida and the greater Atlanta area," he said. "We have just had more success in Florida because we have a greater number of deep correspondent relationships there."
Indeed, Alabama National's acquisition strategy is to buy banks to which it provides correspondent services.
Alabama National serves as a correspondent bank for hundreds of community banks in the South, and most of the 10 it owns are former correspondent customers.
To pay for Florida Choice it plans to issue 1.5 million shares. Each Florida Choice share would be swapped for about 0.6 of a share of Alabama National. In addition, the buyer would pay $5.12 million in cash to terminate stock options.
Florida Choice would become a subsidiary and retain its management and board. Mr. Matthews said that Florida Choice and an Alabama National subsidiary, Public Bank of Saint Cloud, Fla., both have branches in Clermont, Fla., but that no decision had been made on what to do about the overlap.
In light trading Thursday, Alabama National stock fell 1.47%, to $62.39.
