PORTLAND — The parent company of Camden National Bank has reached an agreement to purchase The Bank of Maine, a move that would give Camden 68 branches and a greater presence in Southern Maine.
Camden would give Bank of Maine shareholders the equivalent of $135 million, through a combination of stock and cash.
In disclosures filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Administration, Camden reported the merger would give the bank 10.6 percent of deposits in the state, surpassing Bangor Savings parent Bangor Bancorp. Camden would gain 24 branches, primarily in Southern Maine and the Kennebec Valley.
Camden National’s interest in The Bank of Maine comes five years after Bank of Maine CEO John Everets was hired to turn the bank around from crisis in 2008 and 2009.
The bank, owned by SBM Financial, had in 2009 received a cease and desist order from federal regulators, requiring the bank to make changes that included raising more capital. In 2010, it raised about $60 million in new capital and hired Everets.
“The Bank of Maine is a well-run company with an attractive core deposit base and branch network combined with health care specialty lending and mortgage businesses that provide new sources of growth and diversification,” said Camden National President and CEO Greg Dufour in a news release.
Camden National said in a presentation released Monday that it the Bank of Maine has “returned to profitability” since 2011, with the cease and desist order resolved in October 2014 and about $1 billion in new and renewed loans brought in since 2011.
The Bank of Maine has made other changes to its footprint since, including selling off its Aroostook County branches to Machias Savings Bank in 2013.
The deal would place Camden National’s President and CEO Gregory Dufour at the head of the combined bank, bringing on Bank of Maine CEO John Everets for one year as a consultant, at approximately $175,000 and a $320,000 payment in exchange for an agreement that Everets would not work with Camden National competitors.
The merger would give the publicly traded Camden National (NASDAQ: CAC) about $3.6 billion in assets, a $2.4 billion loan portfolio and $2.6 billion in deposits. The Bank of Maine in 2014 had $806 million in assets.
Camden said it expects the deal to close in the third quarter of 2015.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
