Two Ohio community banks have called off an acquisition deal announced in November, citing an unforeseen delay in regulatory approval.
The $244 million-asset Liberty Bank in Beachwood said Monday that it had reached a mutual agreement with Century Bank in Parma to cancel their deal.
Century had planned to acquire Liberty for $35.9 million in cash and stock. The $149 million-asset Century had said that it would go public to fund the deal. Both the conversion and the deal had been expected to close this quarter.
Liberty said in a press release that the deal had encountered unforseen delays in regulatory approval. The delay increased the risk that "significant additional spending" would be required for the deal to proceed.
The bank did not cite a reason for the delay.
William A. Valerian, Liberty's chairman, president, and chief executive officer, said in the release that his bank would continue to look for "strategic alliances" to help it grow. He also said that his bank remains well capitalized and continues to have high asset quality.
The deal is one of roughly a dozen to be terminated so far this year, including another one that would have involved a conversion. The $578 million-asset Bradford Bancorp said in March of last year that it planned to go public and use much of the proceeds to buy the $257 million-asset Patapsco Bancorp Inc. for $45.5 million. Bradford failed to raise the capital it needed, and in January the deal was called off.
Bradford went on to complete its stock offering in April, minus the acquisition.
