Sunshine Financial and its subsidiary, Sunshine Community Bank, merged with and into The First Bancshares, with The First as the surviving bank.
As a result of this transaction, The First expanded its footprint in the Florida Panhandle with the addition of five branches in the Tallahassee market.
Pursuant to the terms of the merger agreement, each Sunshine shareholder will receive either $27.00 in cash or 0.93 of a share of First Bancshares’ common stock for each share of Sunshine common stock held prior to the merger, provided that the total mix of cash consideration and stock consideration to be issued to holders of Sunshine common stock will be fixed at 75% stock and 25% cash.
M. Ray “Hoppy” Cole, president and CEO of The First, commented, “We are thrilled that Sunshine is now a part of The First and we look forward to growing our presence in the Tallahassee market. We believe that with the added scale and capacity of The First, combined with the local relationships and strong community focus of Sunshine, we will be in a great position to better serve our existing clients as well as develop new relationships in Tallahassee.”
As a result of the merger, the combined company has approximately $2.4 billion in total assets, $2.1 billion in total deposits and $1.7 billion in total loans. The First also now has more than 60 locations across Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.
