In Brief: Hubco to Buy New Jersey Bank for $30M

Hubco Inc. said Tuesday it will pay $29.6 million to buy Community Financial Holding Corp., Westmont, N.J.

Community Financial has assets of $150 million and is the parent of Community National Bank of New Jersey. The purchase price is equal to about 2.5 times Community Financial's book value and 47 times its 1997 earnings.

But Hubco noted that Community Financial's earnings last year were "significantly impacted" by the cost of opening four branches.

Hubco is the parent of $1.7 billion-asset Hudson United Bank in New Jersey and $1.4 billion-asset Lafayette American Bank in Connecticut. It also has pending agreements to buy two New York companies, Poughkeepsie Financial Corp. and MSB Bancorp., which together have 32 offices.

Hubco also agreed on Monday to pay $31 million for 22 First Union National Bank branches in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. It would close about 25% of the offices, which have $310 million of deposits.

After completing all pending deals, Hubco will have more than $5 billion of assets.

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