Executives at Hancock Bank in New Orleans and at J. Everett Eaves Inc., a New Orleans-based agency with an office in Covington, La., jointly announced Monday that they had signed a definitive agreement for Hancock to buy Eaves and make it a division of Hancock Insurance Agency.
The Eaves agency, which has annual revenue of $3.9 million, is to keep its name and maintain its existing agency team and operational structure, including its offices, once the deal closes in midsummer. It has 29 employees.
Hancock Insurance Agency was founded in 1902, three years after the parent bank, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hancock Bank. Last year, Hancock bought Ross-King-Walker Inc., a Hattiesburg, Miss., property and casualty insurance agency. Eaves, founded in 1918, is a full-service independent insurance agency that sells to both individuals and businesses.
Hancock Holding Co., the parent of Hancock banks in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida, and of Magna Insurance Co., has assets of $4.8 billion.
