Jacksonville, Florida-based EverBank Financial Corp. officials Tuesday confirmed the company is up for sale.
A prepared statement on the company’s website posted Tuesday left no doubt that the company is seeking a buyout deal worth $2.5 billion.
“As the result of an ongoing review of its strategic alternatives it [the company] is in advanced negotiations with a well respected financial services company regarding a transaction in which EverBank Financial Corp. would be acquired and EverBank Financial Corp.’s common stockholders would receive $19.50 per share in cash,” a news release said.
That stock price is higher than what EverBank is currently trading for on the New York Stock Exchange. EverBank saw a notable increase in stock value yesterday when several media outlets — most notably Bloomberg financial news — reported the company was considering a sale. The bank’s stock price opened at $15.56 per share Monday and climbed to $17.62 per share before starting a subtle decrease. The stock closed at $17.56 per share Monday.
Tuesday, EverBank shares opened at $18.71 per share.
EverBank officials said they have a negotiation deadline of Aug. 8 to hammer out a deal.
EverBank spokesman Michael Cosgrove said in a telephone interview Tuesday that the company would not comment beyond what their news release stated and he declined to provide the name of the institution in negotiations to buy the business.
EverBank employs 2,963 workers of which 1,624 work in Jacksonville.
While it remains unclear as to who might acquire EverBank, it is unlikely new ownership would pull up stakes entirely from Jacksonville and remove all employees from this market, said Jerry Mallot, president of JAX USA Partnership and executive vice president of JAX Chamber.
“Our experience would be that it would not be moved somewhere. It would continue to operate here and probably in a substantial fashion,” Mallot said Tuesday. “Our other experience is that often we have found that when companies here have been purchased by other companies their presence here expands, it doesn’t contract.”
Mallot pointed to Adecco Staffing office personnel supply company which purchased Modis. Adecco has expanded operations here but moved its headquarters to New York City. But only after two years headquartered there, Adecco moved its headquarters back to Jacksonville.
EverBank is not only a key headquarters positioned in Jacksonville, Mallot said the company is a key member of the business community with deep roots here.
It has two substantial buildings in the core of the city, one a skyscraper on Bay Street and another on the north bank of the St. Johns River on Riverside Avenue.
EverBank also acquired the naming rights to Jacksonville Municipal Stadium where the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL football team calls home. That initial naming rights deal for EverBank was arrived at in 2010 for about $16.7 million.
In addition, EverBank is a valuable company and remains Florida’s largest lending institution.
In addition to announcing the negotiations for a sale, Tuesday’s EverBank news release also detailed the company’s second quarter earnings and financial statements between April and June. Total assets for the company were $27.4 billion, up by 13 percent over a year ago and $700 million more than the assets listed in the first quarter of trading this year.
“EverBank’s been a wildly successful organization. They’ve been a very important part of our community and they’re one of our larger headquarters here,” Mallot said. “That’s certainly been a great benefit and we’d always hate to lose a headquarters. But it often comes because of great success in the organization and they are an attractive candidate for someone else.”
The company’s roots go back to mortgage companies in Jacksonville in the 1960s.
The current form of the company was created in 1994, then known as Alliance Mortgage. It acquired everbank.com in 2002 and then changed the parent company name to EverBank.
