The bank moved into a space at 1600 Forest Ave. in May 2015.
The latest in a wave of Virginia bank mergers will have a trickle-down effect into Richmond.
Reston-based Access National Bank and its parent company announced on Monday a deal to merge with Middleburg Bank, another Northern Virginia institution that has increased its Richmond presence in recent years.
The deal will create a combined bank with $2.7 billion in total assets from Access National’s $1.4 billion and Middleburg’s $1.3 billion. It will have 17 branches statewide, including Middleburg’s Libbie Avenue branch, which opened in 2013.
The transaction, valued at approximately $233.1 million, also includes an arm of Middleburg’s wealth management operations, Middleburg Trust Co., which is headquartered on Forest Avenue in Richmond.
On the ground locally, Middleburg CEO Gary Shook said the company’s operations will continue business as usual once the deal closes in the second quarter next year.
“The good news is in Richmond it will continue to look very much the same as it has,” Shook said.
Middleburg Trust, which manages around $1.9 billion in client assets, will continue to be headquartered in a West End building the company purchased in 2015.
Middleburg Bank will continue its commercial and retail banking operations in Richmond, and the Middleburg brand and logo will continue to be used.
Last year, Middleburg vacated a branch near Main and Ninth streets across from the capitol.
“For now, the fox stays in Richmond,” Shook said, referring to Middleburg’s mascot – a fox named Mosby.
“It’s a 92-year-old brand. You don’t just shut it down the next day,” he said.
The deal specifically called for both the Access National and Middleburg brands to continue to be used in their respective markets, Shook said, adding that they may do a company-wide rebranding in the years to come.
Though Access National is technically the acquirer, the two sides bill the deal as a “strategic merger” that brings together complementary skills on each end by blending Middleburg’s retail banking and wealth management operations with Access National’s commercial lending and residential mortgage experience.
Middleburg Investment Group, under which the trust company operates, will take on Access National’s $700 million in client assets.
Shook said the company will look to bolster its commercial lending presence in Richmond by adding bankers on the ground.
The trust company has about a dozen employees in Richmond, led by John Mason Antrim. The retail banking side has about half a dozen, led by local head Andy McLean.
Middleburg had about $16 million in deposits in the Richmond market as of June 30, the most recent figures on file with the FDIC.
Middleburg shareholders will receive 1.33 shares of Access National stock as part of the merger. Shook said the deal came together after the two sides began discussing issues that are on the minds of many community banks these days.
“It was in many ways – and I think many banks are having the same conversation – ‘how do we deal with increased regulation and expenses related to that?’” Shook said.
He said Middleburg considered three options for the future: stay on its current route and try to continue growing as an independent bank; go out and find the best price from an acquirer; or, the option it chose, merge with or acquire a bank of like size.
Shook said the two banks began talking in earnest in the spring.
“We came to the conclusion that we were far better off together than apart,” he said.
That’s a conclusion many of Middleburg’s Virginia peers have reached over the last couple of years as the long awaited stream of mergers and acquisitions among community banks finally seems to have taken hold in the commonwealth.
This year alone has seen several mergers closed or announced, including: Richmond-based Xenith Bank’s combination with Bank of Hampton Roads; Suffolk-based TowneBank’s acquisition of Monarch Bank in Chesapeake; and Midlothian-based Bank of Virginia being absorbed by First Citizen’s Bank out of North Carolina.
Shook said once combined, Access National and Middleburg will continue to look for expansion opportunities from Northern Virginia, through Richmond, and down to Hampton Roads.
The bank moved into a space at 1600 Forest Ave. in May 2015.
The latest in a wave of Virginia bank mergers will have a trickle-down effect into Richmond.
Reston-based Access National Bank and its parent company announced on Monday a deal to merge with Middleburg Bank, another Northern Virginia institution that has increased its Richmond presence in recent years.
The deal will create a combined bank with $2.7 billion in total assets from Access National’s $1.4 billion and Middleburg’s $1.3 billion. It will have 17 branches statewide, including Middleburg’s Libbie Avenue branch, which opened in 2013.
The transaction, valued at approximately $233.1 million, also includes an arm of Middleburg’s wealth management operations, Middleburg Trust Co., which is headquartered on Forest Avenue in Richmond.
On the ground locally, Middleburg CEO Gary Shook said the company’s operations will continue business as usual once the deal closes in the second quarter next year.
“The good news is in Richmond it will continue to look very much the same as it has,” Shook said.
Middleburg Trust, which manages around $1.9 billion in client assets, will continue to be headquartered in a West End building the company purchased in 2015.
Middleburg Bank will continue its commercial and retail banking operations in Richmond, and the Middleburg brand and logo will continue to be used.
Last year, Middleburg vacated a branch near Main and Ninth streets across from the capitol.
“For now, the fox stays in Richmond,” Shook said, referring to Middleburg’s mascot – a fox named Mosby.
“It’s a 92-year-old brand. You don’t just shut it down the next day,” he said.
The deal specifically called for both the Access National and Middleburg brands to continue to be used in their respective markets, Shook said, adding that they may do a company-wide rebranding in the years to come.
Though Access National is technically the acquirer, the two sides bill the deal as a “strategic merger” that brings together complementary skills on each end by blending Middleburg’s retail banking and wealth management operations with Access National’s commercial lending and residential mortgage experience.
Middleburg Investment Group, under which the trust company operates, will take on Access National’s $700 million in client assets.
Shook said the company will look to bolster its commercial lending presence in Richmond by adding bankers on the ground.
The trust company has about a dozen employees in Richmond, led by John Mason Antrim. The retail banking side has about half a dozen, led by local head Andy McLean.
Middleburg had about $16 million in deposits in the Richmond market as of June 30, the most recent figures on file with the FDIC.
Middleburg shareholders will receive 1.33 shares of Access National stock as part of the merger. Shook said the deal came together after the two sides began discussing issues that are on the minds of many community banks these days.
“It was in many ways – and I think many banks are having the same conversation – ‘how do we deal with increased regulation and expenses related to that?’” Shook said.
He said Middleburg considered three options for the future: stay on its current route and try to continue growing as an independent bank; go out and find the best price from an acquirer; or, the option it chose, merge with or acquire a bank of like size.
Shook said the two banks began talking in earnest in the spring.
“We came to the conclusion that we were far better off together than apart,” he said.
That’s a conclusion many of Middleburg’s Virginia peers have reached over the last couple of years as the long awaited stream of mergers and acquisitions among community banks finally seems to have taken hold in the commonwealth.
This year alone has seen several mergers closed or announced, including: Richmond-based Xenith Bank’s combination with Bank of Hampton Roads; Suffolk-based TowneBank’s acquisition of Monarch Bank in Chesapeake; and Midlothian-based Bank of Virginia being absorbed by First Citizen’s Bank out of North Carolina.
Shook said once combined, Access National and Middleburg will continue to look for expansion opportunities from Northern Virginia, through Richmond, and down to Hampton Roads.