Bank of the Ozarks to acquire Bank of the Carolinas

Bank of the Ozarks and Bank of the Carolinas Corp., which both have branches in Greater Charlotte, announced Wednesday that they have signed an agreement to merge.

Under the deal, which still requires approval from regulators and Bank of the Carolinas shareholders, Arkansas-based Bank of the Ozarks will acquire the Mocksville, N.C.-based holding company and its banking subsidiary.

The all-stock transaction is worth approximately $64.7 million, the companies said.

For Bank of the Ozarks, the acquisition means a bigger footprint in the Charlotte metropolitan region and its first branches in the Piedmont Triad area.

Bank of the Carolinas has three branches in the Charlotte area – two in Cabarrus County and one in Rowan County, according to the latest Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data. Bank of the Ozarks did not previously have branches in those counties.

Bank of the Carolinas’ six other branches stretch across the Piedmont Triad, from Lexington to Winston-Salem.

The deal marks the latest bank purchase by Bank of the Ozarks, which has been expanding across North Carolina in part by acquiring other lenders. It has 16 branches in the state, not counting the ones it will acquire in the deal announced Wednesday.

In 2010, Bank of the Ozarks acquired failed South Carolina lender Woodlands Bank. In that deal, Bank of the Ozarks gained a branch in Wilmington, its first full-service branch in North Carolina.

Bank of the Ozarks opened its first full-service branch in Charlotte two years ago. It now has six branches in the Charlotte metropolitan area, according to the latest FDIC data.

Bank of the Carolinas has about $363 million in total assets. Bank of the Ozarks has about $8.3 billion in assets.

This story was originally published May 6, 2015 at 7:30 PM with the headline "Bank of the Ozarks to acquire Bank of the Carolinas."