Dive Brief:

• Asheville, North Carolina-based HomeTrust Bancshares, the holding company of HomeTrust Bank, has agreed to acquire Blue Ridge Bankshares, the holding company of Blue Ridge Bank, for $448.1 million in stock, the companies said Monday.
• Acquiring Richmond, Virginia-based Blue Ridge expands HomeTrust’s footprint in Virginia and pushes the lender to $7 billion in assets, according to a news release. The combined company will have about 60 locations across the Southeast.
• The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027.

Dive Insight:

HomeTrust, which has about $4.4 billion in assets, has 30 locations across North Carolina, South Carolina, eastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia and Georgia.

HomeTrust referred to the deal as “a rare opportunity to add scale in Virginia,” noting Blue Ridge is one of just six lenders headquartered in the state that has between $2 billion and $10 billion in assets but does not serve the Washington, D.C., area.

The combined bank will have about $5.7 billion in loans and the same amount in deposits, according to an investor presentation. Greater scale will give HomeTrust lending capacity and infrastructure that smaller competitors can’t match, the bank said. 

“This represents a compelling opportunity to further expand our presence in the attractive Virginia market and accelerate our growth strategy,” C. Hunter Westbrook, HomeTrust’s CEO and president, said in the news release. “Blue Ridge brings a strong deposit franchise, a growing commercial loan portfolio, and deep local relationships that complement our existing footprint and capabilities.”

The merger will create “a more profitable, resilient, and relevant regional commercial bank, with top quartile earnings and continued recognition as an employer of choice,” Westbrook said.

Under the deal’s terms, Blue Ridge shareholders will receive 0.086 of a share of HomeTrust stock for each Blue Ridge share they own. The deal’s $448.1 million value is based on HomeTrust's five-day, volume-weighted average price of about $49.82 per share from Friday. 

The transaction is expected to be about 30% accretive to earnings per share, assuming anticipated cost savings are achieved in 2028, HomeTrust said. Dilution to tangible book value per share is estimated at about 8.3% once the deal closes, with an earnback period of about 3.25 years. 

Blue Ridge is a once-frequent fintech partner that landed in regulatory hot water twice this decade. Blue Ridge’s interim president and CEO, Harry Golliday, said the $2.3 billion-asset lender “has successfully completed a clean-up of legacy challenges and repositioned itself for profitability and growth.”

“HomeTrust's own transformation from a legacy thrift into a high-performing commercial bank provides a proven roadmap, product suite and talent base to accelerate Blue Ridge's next chapter of success,” Golliday said.

Blue Ridge’s “legacy challenges” include a consent order, issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in January 2024 and terminated last November. The order addressed the bank’s alleged continued failure to establish and maintain a strong and well-staffed Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering compliance program, after issues were flagged in 2022.

That 2022 order directed the bank to improve its oversight of third-party fintech partnerships.

To address the issues identified in 2024, Blue Ridge hired a new risk management team that had experience at larger banks, former CEO Billy Beale told Banking Dive in November 2025. Beale retired in March, when Golliday was appointed. 

In its investor presentation, HomeTrust noted Blue Ridge has reduced “problem assets,” eliminated all fintech and banking-as-a-service partnerships and exited non-core business lines such as out-of-market and specialized finance-related lending. 

The HomeTrust executive team will lead the combined company, and the 11-person board will feature nine directors from HomeTrust and two from Blue Ridge. After the deal closes, HomeTrust shareholders will own about 65% of the company, while Blue Ridge shareholders will own about 35%. 

HomeTrust expects a common equity tier 1 ratio of 13%, and a return on average tangible common equity of 15.6% for 2027. 

Editor’s note: This story has been updated.