Louisa County, Virginia-based Virginia Community Bank announced Tuesday that it has agreed to merge with Virginia Beach-based Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group LLC’s holding company in an all-stock transaction.
As part of the transaction, Virginia Community will eliminate its holding company and the resulting bank will operate under the name Atlantic Bay Bank, while Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group will retain its brand.
However, chief operating officer of Atlantic Bay Stan Holland said local branches of the bank will operate under its current name and brand.
“The banks will continue with day-to-day operations as normal,” he said.
He said no staff was lost in the merger and Virginia Community will retain all bank branches, as well as its leadership team in Louisa.
“Under the partnership with Atlantic Bay, the bank will maintain exceptional customer service and be able to leverage Atlantic Bay’s growth potential,” said Preston Moore, chief executive officer of Virginia Community Bank.
Tom Crowder, chief financial officer of the financial institution, said “this is the first time in my 30 years of banking where I’ve seen a combination where all three constituents–shareholders, customers and employees–were all served well by the deal.”
He said the bank’s commercial customers, especially, will benefit locally by the increase in lending capacity. The merger also means Virginia Community clients will have access to more mortgage options and technology offered by Atlantic Bay, he said.
The bank was founded in 1976 and operates seven banking offices in Louisa, Orange County, Culpeper County, the town of Mineral and Fredericksburg.
The bank has total assets of $243 million and deposits of $209 million.
The transaction was unanimously approved by the board of directors of Virginia Community and the sole manager and members of Atlantic Bay, and is expected to close pending regulatory approval in the fourth quarter of 2017.
The parties expect to complete a $20 million offering of common stock of Virginia Community at the time of closing.
According to the agreement, Atlantic Bay will receive merger consideration consisting of 100 percent stock in Virginia Community. That will give Atlantic Bay’s members approximately 60 percent ownership of the bank, excluding the impact of the planned common stock offering.
Under the terms of the agreement, Atlantic Bay’s CEO Brian Holland will become chairman of the board, and COO Stan Holland will be a member of the board of directors. Moore, CEO of Virginia Community Bank, will remain CEO of the bank and will be a member of its board of directors. CFO Crowder will remain in his position.
Atlantic Bay was founded in 1996 by Brian Holland and now has more than 120 locations.
Holland called Virginia Community a well-established and highly-respected community bank that will now share Atlantic Bay’s experience in “lending, customer service and fun company culture.”
