In Brief: Stock Market Selloff Kills 2 Merger Deals

In the second deal in as many days to unravel as a result of the recent stock market selloff, Cohoes Savings Bank on Friday terminated its agreement to buy SFS Corp. of Schenectady, N.Y.

On Thursday, First Liberty Financial Corp. of Macon, Ga., said its planned purchase of Peoples Banking Corp. of Blackshear, Ga., was off because the two sides were unable to work out an agreement after a 24% drop in First Liberty's stock.

Cohoes announced plans in July to acquire $178 million-asset SFS Bancorp and its subsidiary, Schenectady Federal Savings Bank, for $35 million to $44 million. Cohoes, with $536 million of assets, had planned to fund the purchase with proceeds from a public offering.

First Liberty, with $1.5 billion of assets, announced plans in April to buy $100 million-asset Peoples for $18.5 million in stock.

But with First Liberty's stock trading well below its April high, Peoples opted to call off the deal.

-Alan Kline and Louis Whiteman

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