WSFS Bank Receives Key Regulatory Approval to Acquire Beneficial Bank
February 13 2019 - 3:43PM
WSFS Financial Corporation (Nasdaq: WSFS) (“WSFS”) announced that
its primary subsidiary, WSFS Bank, received approval from the
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to merge Beneficial
Bank, the primary subsidiary of Beneficial Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq:
BNCL) (“Beneficial”), into WSFS Bank. Subject to the timely
receipt of remaining regulatory approvals, WSFS and Beneficial
expect to close the mergers of Beneficial and Beneficial Bank into
WSFS and WSFS Bank, respectively, on Friday, March 1, 2019.
Following the closing of the mergers, WSFS will have approximately
$13 billion in assets and will become the largest,
longest-standing, locally-headquartered community bank for the
Greater Delaware Valley.
“The OCC’s approval is another major milestone
in the journey we started last summer to combine the strengths of
two local community banks with more than 350 years of combined
experience in serving the communities, residents and businesses of
the Greater Delaware Valley,” said Rodger Levenson, WSFS’ President
and Chief Executive Officer. “We are excited about the
progress we have made to date, and we are confident in our ability
to execute on our plan to close this transaction in the coming
weeks and integrate our systems by late summer.”
Following the closing of the mergers, both banks
will continue to operate as separate brands under one legal entity
(WSFS) until August 2019, when the projected system conversion and
rebranding are expected to occur under the WSFS Bank name.
About WSFS Financial
CorporationWSFS Financial Corporation is a multi-billion
dollar financial services company. Its primary subsidiary, WSFS
Bank, is the oldest and largest locally-managed bank and trust
company headquartered in Delaware and the Delaware Valley. As of
December 31, 2018, WSFS Financial Corporation had $7.2 billion in
assets on its balance sheet and $19.0 billion in assets under
management and administration. WSFS operates from 76 offices
located in Delaware (45), Pennsylvania (29), Virginia (1) and
Nevada (1) and provides comprehensive financial services including
commercial banking, retail banking, cash management and trust and
wealth management. Other subsidiaries or divisions include
Christiana Trust, WSFS Wealth Investments, Cypress Capital
Management, LLC, West Capital Management, Powdermill Financial
Solutions, Cash Connect®, WSFS Mortgage and Arrow Land Transfer.
Serving the Delaware Valley since 1832, WSFS Bank is one of the ten
oldest banks in the United States continuously operating under the
same name. For more information, please visit wsfsbank.com.
Forward-Looking StatementsThis
press release contains estimates, predictions, opinions,
projections and other “forward-looking statements” as that phrase
is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements
relating to the impact WSFS expects its proposed acquisition of
Beneficial to have on the combined entity’s operations, financial
condition, and financial results, and WSFS’s expectations about its
ability to successfully integrate the combined businesses and the
amount of cost savings and overall operational efficiencies WSFS
expects to realize as a result of the proposed acquisition.
The forward-looking statements also include predications or
expectations of future business or financial performance as well as
goals and objectives for future operations, financial and business
trends, business prospects, and management’s outlook or
expectations for earnings, revenues, expenses, capital levels,
liquidity levels, asset quality or other future financial or
business performance, strategies or expectations. The words
“believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “estimate,” “target,”
“project” and similar expressions, among others, generally identify
forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are
based on various assumptions (many of which are beyond the control
of WSFS and Beneficial) and are subject to risks and uncertainties
(which change over time) and other factors which could cause actual
results to differ materially from those currently anticipated. Such
risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the
possibility that the proposed acquisition does not close when
expected or at all because all required regulatory and other
approvals and other conditions to closing are not received or
satisfied on a timely basis or at all, the failure to close for any
other reason, changes in WSFS’s share price before closing, that
the businesses of WSFS and Beneficial will not be integrated
successfully, that the cost savings and any synergies from the
proposed acquisition may not be fully realized or may take longer
to realize than expected, disruption from the proposed acquisition
making it more difficult to maintain relationships with employees,
customers or other parties with whom WSFS or Beneficial have
business relationships, diversion of management time on
merger-related issues, risks relating to the potential dilutive
effect of shares of WSFS common stock to be issued in the
transaction, the reaction to the transaction of the companies’
customers, employees and counterparties and other factors, many of
which are beyond the control of WSFS and Beneficial. We refer
you to the “Risk Factors” section of the joint proxy
statement/prospectus and to the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations” sections of WSFS’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2017, the Annual Report on Form 10-K filed
by Beneficial for the year ended December 31, 2017 and any updates
to those risk factors set forth in WSFS’s and Beneficial’s
Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and
other filings, which have been filed by WSFS and Beneficial with
the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and are
available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. All
forward-looking statements, expressed or implied, included in this
press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the
cautionary statements contained or referred to herein. The actual
results or developments anticipated may not be realized or, even if
substantially realized, they may not have the expected consequences
to or effects on WSFS, Beneficial or their respective businesses or
operations. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on any
such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on
which they are made. Neither WSFS nor Beneficial undertakes any
obligation, and specifically declines any obligation, to revise or
update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future developments or otherwise.
Investor Relations Contact: Dominic C. Canuso |
(302)
571-6833 |
dcanuso@wsfsbank.com |
|
Media Contact: Jimmy A. Hernandez |
(302)
571-5254 |
jhernandez@wsfsbank.com |
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