- Key insight: Colony Bankcorp in Georgia is planning to expand into neighboring South Carolina by acquiring the $1.1 billion-asset First Reliance Bancshares.
- Forward look: The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter, pending approvals by regulators and shareholders.
- Expert quote: "By bringing Colony and First Reliance together, we are … establishing an institution that is large enough to handle major lending needs but local enough to remain focused on our customer relationships." —Colony CEO Heath Fountain
In the latest example of banks jockeying for a seat in fast-growing Southeast markets, Colony Bankcorp in Georgia has reached a $163 million deal to expand into neighboring South Carolina.
Colony, which currently has offices in Georgia, Florida and Alabama, announced plans to acquire Florence, South Carolina-based First Reliance Bancshares. The combined institution is expected to have approximately $5 billion of assets.
The selling bank, which has $1.1 billion of assets, operates in five of the Palmetto State's largest metropolitan areas, including Charleston, Columbia and Greenville.
"The state of South Carolina has experienced significant growth over the last several years and is well-positioned to continue that trend," Colony CEO Heath Fountain said Thursday during a call with analysts.
Fitzgerald, Georgia-based Colony is projecting faster population growth and larger household income growth in First Reliance's markets than in its own existing geographies.
South Carolina,
"By bringing Colony and First Reliance together, we are filling that void and establishing an institution that is large enough to handle major lending needs but local enough to remain focused on our customer relationships," he said.
Under the deal's terms, First Reliance CEO Rick Saunders, who founded the company in 1999, will join Colony as executive vice chairman, board member and a member of the bank's executive team.
Several other First Reliance executives will also be joining Colony, including the selling bank's president, Justin Strickland, who will become Colony's president for South Carolina. Robert Haile, the chief financial officer at First Reliance, will become chief investment officer and treasurer at Colony.
First Reliance locations in South Carolina will continue to operate under their existing brand, Colony said.
"For our customers in South Carolina, this means continuity," Saunders told analysts. "Joining forces, we are bringing scale and enhanced operational efficiency into our existing branch footprint."
Saunders also said that the larger combined balance sheet of the two banks should allow the company to establish larger lending relationships with existing First Reliance commercial customers.
"My team's already putting a list of names together," Saunders told an analyst. "So yes, we willmcertainly take advantage of that."
The two banks touted their mortgage businesses as complementary, saying that the addition of First Reliance's mortgage unit will increase Colony's residential lending profitability.
Overall, Colony expects the deal will add 20% to earnings per share in 2027, and sees an earn-back period of less than five years. Still, investors reacted negatively to the deal, sending Colony's share price down by 5.6% on Thursday.
The stock-and-cash deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, pending approvals by regulators and shareholders.
Colony completed its most recent acquisition — of Thomasville, Georgia-based TC Bancshares — in December 2025.
So far in 2026, bank merger activity in the Southeast has been considerably slower than it was last year, according to a report by Seaport Research Partners. As of earlier this month, eight deals had been announced in the Southeast, versus 36 for all of 2025, the report found.
