Two New Jersey banks have recently announced their plans to expand. The banks — Investors Bancorp and Roma Financial Corp. — have apparently reached a merger agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Roma will become part of Investors. Investors will give $113.5 million worth of stock to Roma minority shareholders.
Currently, Roma operates 26 banks across New Jersey, including in Mercer, Middlesex, Camden and Burlington counties. Roma has $1.84 billion in assets, which will all be under Investors’ control once the merger is completed. Since 2008, Investors has completed six previous bank mergers. Investors Bankcorp has become the bank headquartered in New Jersey with the largest number of deposits — $8.9 billion worth of deposits per year. If measured in assets, Investors is the second-largest bank headquartered in New Jersey, with $14.1 billion in assets.
In fact, Investors’ most recent takeover was of Marathon Banking Corp. Marathon had 13 banks throughout New Jersey and New York. That deal was worth $135 million and closed in October.
Following news of the merger, Roma’s stock price jumped up 64 percent to $15.15.
The act of merging two companies is not a simple process and it does not happen overnight. In fact, mergers are complex business transactions that can take months or years to complete. From negotiation to implementation, even the smallest details should not be overlooked. There can be issues with government regulations, shareholders and even employees that need special attention for the merger to be successful.
With the right legal representation, these details can be worked through. Companies can expand, change and remain profitable into the future.
Source: The Star-Ledger, “Investors Bank to buy Roma Financial in latest N.J. bank merger,” Ed Beeson, Dec. 20, 2012
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