Charleston, West Virginia-based United Bank is scooping up Peachtree Corners, Georgia-based Piedmont Bancorp in a deal valued at $267 million, the banks announced Friday.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024 or the first quarter of 2025, the banks said.
The combined entity would have about $32 billion in assets, roughly 240 locations, and make United the U.S.’s 39th-largest bank by market capitalization, the banks said in the release.
It also would give United entry to the Atlanta area — and Georgia altogether — for the first time.
“We share similar commitments to serving our customers and communities with a relationship-focused approach,” United CEO Richard M. Adams Jr. said Friday in a prepared statement. “The greater Atlanta area is the perfect addition to UBSI’s footprint, and we look forward to being a part of the vibrant and fast-growing communities there.”
Piedmont counts 16 locations and approximately $2.1 billion in assets, according to Friday’s release.
“We believe this merger will allow us to better serve our current customers and reach new audiences with enhanced products and services, all while maintaining our personalized community bank approach,” Piedmont Bank CEO Monty Watson said in a prepared statement.
Watson will serve as regional president for Georgia operations at United upon the deal’s closure.
United was founded in 1839 as The Parkersburg National Bank in Parkersburg, West Virginia. It has acquired 34 other banks over the years, bringing it to Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
But the Piedmont deal marks United’s first acquisition under Adams Jr., who took the helm when his predecessor and father, Richard Adams, became executive chairman in 2022. The senior Adams had held the post for 47 years, longer than any of his contemporaries, according to a list published by American Banker the year he retired.
United’s largest-ever deal, the $1.1 billion acquisition of Charleston, S.C.-based Carolina Financial, closed in 2020.
The bank expanded into the D.C. area in 1990, with the $28 million acquisition of Bank First in McLean, Virginia, and the nation’s capital now serves as a second home base of sorts for United.
According to the agreement, United will acquire all of Piedmont’s outstanding shares in exchange for United common stock, with an exchange ratio fixed at .300 United shares for each share of Piedmont.
The boards of directors at both firms have approved the deal.
A spokesperson for United did not return a request for comment.
