Center Bancorp, ConnectOne Bancorp To Merge In $243 Mln Deal

(RTTNews) - Center Bancorp, Inc. (CNBC) and ConnectOne Bancorp. Inc. (CNOB) have agreed to merge in a deal valued at $243 million, the two companies said Tuesday.

Under the terms of the merger deal that has been approved by both companies' boards of directors, ConnectOne shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 2.6 shares of Center common stock for each share of ConnectOne common stock held by them. Upon closing, Center shareholders will own approximately 54 percent of the combined company's stock, while ConnectOne shareholders will own the remaining 46 percent stake.

The transaction is expected to close either late in the second calendar quarter or early in the third calendar quarter of 2014. Based on financial results as of December 31, 2013, the combined company will have about $3.0 billion in total assets, $2.3 billion in total deposits and $2.1 billion in total loans with 24 branch locations across northern New Jersey.

The merger is expected to be accretive to both Center's and ConnectOne's earnings per share in 2015, excluding the impact of potential revenue enhancement opportunities.

Upon closing, Union Center National Bank, the bank subsidiary of Center, will merge with and into ConnectOne Bank, the bank subsidiary of ConnectOne. ConnectOne Bank will continue to use the ConnectOne name and the holding company will change its name to ConnectOne Bancorp, Inc. Trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market will be under the symbol "CNOB".

Separately, Center Bancorp reported fourth-quarter net income available to common stockholders of $4.96 million or $0.30 per share, up from $4.44 million or $0.27 per share in the year-ago period.

Net interest income after provision for loan losses rose to $11.52 million from $11.32 million in the prior-year quarter. Other income increased to $1.76 million from $1.02 million in the year-ago quarter.