BayBanks Inc.'s proposed acquisition of Cornerstone Financial Corp. in Derry, N.H., has been approved by Cornerstone's shareholders.
The transaction, which was announced in March, is expected to close in the fall, pending regulatory approval. It will add $145 million of assets to BayBanks' New Hampshire banking operation, bringing the total to more than $760 million.
Boston-based BayBanks agreed to pay $8.80 in cash for each share of Cornerstone Financial, the parent of Cornerstone Bank, which operates 11 offices in the Salem area, Nashua, Manchester, Candia, and Chester.
The indicated value of the deal is $18.5 million.
Seeking growth in southern New Hampshire, $11 billion-asset BayBanks announced on June 30 that it had completed the acquisition of NFS Financial Corp., which owned NFS Savings Bank of Nashua and Plaistow Cooperative Bank of Plaistow. Those two institutions, with 10 offices in New Hampshire and one in Pepperell, Mass., were merged under the name BayBank FSB, with headquarters in Nashua.
Cornerstone, with a commercial bank charter, is to be renamed BayBank NH.
The growing New Hampshire network will fit seamlessly with BayBanks' more than 200 branches in Massachusetts and Connecticut, said chairman William M. Crozier Jr.
The merger "will allow us to provide unparalleled banking convenience and innovative products to more residents and businesses in southern New Hampshire," he said. "When this transaction is complete, BayBanks will have a stronger position" in the southern New Hampshire centers of Salem, Nashua, and Manchester.
