Ameris Bancorp in Moultrie, Ga., is acquiring the $69 million-asset Islands Community Bank in Beaufort, S.C., for roughly $19 million in cash and stock.
The deal, announced Wednesday, is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
The $1.8 billion-asset Ameris would get its first branch in South Carolina, to go along with its 42 in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia.
"The opportunity to enter South Carolina and extend our franchise along the coast is exciting," Edwin W. Hortman Jr., Ameris' president and chief executive officer, said in a press release. "Our partnership with Islands and our style of banking positions us to capture this growth and with focused efforts, branch to other growth markets in South Carolina."
Islands Community, which was founded five years ago, would be merged into Ameris' lead banking subsidiary, American Banking Co.
For the first quarter, Islands Community's net income increased 6% from a year earlier, to $132,000.
