City Holding Company, the parent company of City National Bank of West Virginia, completed its acquisition of Citizens Commerce Bancshares, the parent company of Citizens Commerce Bank, headquartered in Versailles, KY. The acquisition became effective as of the close of business on March 10. The acquisition of Citizens was structured as a stock transaction valued at approximately $62.1 million, or $15.37 per share of Citizens common stock, with each share of Citizens common stock being exchanged for 0.1666 shares of City common stock. City and Citizens first announced that they had entered into an agreement to merge on Oct. 18, 2022. The acquisition of Citizens included the merger of Citizens Commerce Bank into City National Bank of West Virginia.
Based upon financial data as of Dec. 31, 2022, the combined company will have $6.2 billion in assets, deposits of $5.2 billion and gross loans of $3.9 billion, strengthening City’s presence in the Lexington, KY MSA. “We are very happy to welcome the staff and customers of Citizens into the City family,” Charles R. “Skip” Hageboeck, president and CEO of City, said. “From the perspective of Citizens customers, they will continue to see the same people who have been serving them, and also will have access to enhanced products and services. We have been able to retain more employees than originally anticipated, with approximately one dozen administrative/operational staff from Citizens that are now filling open positions that existed at City. City’s dedication to remain a community-focused bank means that our commitment to the local communities will continue to be quite strong.”
Piper Sandler served as financial advisor and Dinsmore & Shohl served as legal counsel to City in this transaction. Forvis Capital Advisors served as financial advisor and Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs served as legal counsel to Citizens. Hovde Group issued a fairness opinion to the board of Citizens.
