The First Bancshares in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, has agreed to acquire Heritage Southeast Bancorp in Atlanta for $207 million in stock.
Heritage has 23 branches across Georgia and northeast Florida — a region where First Bancshares is pursuing a quick expansion this year. Heritage has assets of $1.7 billion, loans of $1.1 billion and deposits of $1.5 billion.
The deal is expected to close late this year or early in 2023.
It is the second Southeastern deal for the $6 billion-asset First Bancshares in three months. In late April, the company agreed to pay
“Individually, each transaction is extremely attractive and enhances our organization’s franchise value. Collectively, they are transformative for our company, providing meaningful market share in some of the most dynamic, fastest-growing markets in the South,” Ray Cole Jr., president and CEO of First Bancshares, said in a news release announcing the Heritage agreement after markets closed Wednesday.
The Mississippi-based First says the deal would allow it to acquire key talent, bolster its presence in northwest Florida and expand into the Tampa area.
The $620 million-asset Beach, based in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, has seven branches across the Panhandle and Tampa markets.
After the closing of both deals, First Bancshares would have about $8 billion of assets, $7 billion of deposits, $5 billion of loans and more than 100 branches across five Southeastern states.
First has completed
