Shareholders of CoBiz Financial approved the company’s merger with BOK Financial, a regional financial services company based in Tulsa, OK.
The merger was announced in June 2018 and is expected to close on October 1. As of June 30, 2018, CoBiz had approximately $3.9 billion in assets, $3 billion in loans and $3.1 billion in deposits.
CoBiz shareholders will receive 0.17 shares of BOK Financial stock and $5.70 cash for each share of CoBiz common stock that they own.
“The CoBiz acquisition is an important milestone for our company, and we look forward to welcoming CoBiz employees and customers to the BOK Financial family,” said Steven G. Bradshaw, president and CEO of BOK Financial. “Over the past several months as we’ve prepared for closing, we’ve been highly impressed by the entire CoBiz team, their can-do attitude, and their enthusiasm about becoming a part of BOK Financial. Now, we can collectively move forward to deliver on the promise of this acquisition.”
BOK Financial expects to incur approximately $44 million of pre-tax acquisition-related charges, with approximately 50% expected to be recorded in 2018 and the balance in 2019. The merger is expected to be 6% accretive to earnings in 2019, and 9% accretive to earnings in 2020, the first full year with synergies. The merger is also expected to deliver an internal rate of return in excess of 20% and be accretive to BOK Financial’s return on equity, return on assets, net interest margin, and efficiency ratio.
After conversion, which is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2019, all banking operations will be conducted under the BOK Financial brand in Colorado and Arizona.
BOK Financial’s holdings include BOKF, BOK Financial Securities and The Milestone Group. BOKF operates TransFund, Cavanal Hill Investment Management, BOK Financial Asset Management, and seven banking divisions: Bank of Albuquerque, Bank of Arizona, Bank of Arkansas, Mobank, Bank of Oklahoma, Bank of Texas and Colorado State Bank and Trust.
CoBiz Financial is a $3.8 billion financial services company that serves the complete financial needs of businesses, business owners and professionals in Colorado and Arizona. The company’s subsidiaries are: Colorado Business Bank and Arizona Business Bank, which provide commercial banking services; CoBiz Private Client Advisors which offers private banking through CoBiz Private Bank and investment management and wealth planning through CoBiz Wealth and CoBiz Insurance, which delivers employee benefits, and property and casualty insurance brokerage.
