PrintPrintThe acquisition of Savannah Bancorp and its subsidiary Minis & Co. provides SCBT Financial additional infrastructure to expand its wealth management group. Minis & Co., combined with SCBT’s existing wealth management group, will have total assets under management of $1.6 billion.
Staff Report
Published Aug. 13, 2012
The acquisition of Savannah Bancorp provides SCBT Financial, parent of South Carolina Bank and Trust, an opportunity to grow its wealth management group, executives of the Columbia-based company say.
As part of the deal announced Wednesday, SCBT also acquired Minis & Co., a registered investment adviser and subsidiary of Savannah Bancorp.
Landing Minis was a big piece of the transaction, John Pollok, SCBT senior vice president, CFO and COO, said during a conference call with analysts following last week’s announcement.
The merger allows SCBT to accelerate expansion of its wealth management business in existing markets in North and South Carolina, and parts of Georgia not served by the Savannah bank, said Robert R. Hill Jr., president and CEO of SCBT.
“Large banks continue to move up the dollar amount of which you get personal attention on the wealth management side,” Hill said. “So we’re able to really carve out a niche below that those people are going after and drive a lot of additional business.”
SCBT has had a traditional trust operation for years and lately has “hired and carved out several wealth management teams from large competitors and begun to build our infrastructure in-house,” Hill said.
Savannah Bank brings some infrastructure that SCBT was going to have to build, Hill said.
Minis & Co., combined with SCBT’s existing wealth management group, will have total assets under management of $1.6 billion.
“We feel like it’s a really meaningful part to bolt onto our company and to get to a billion six,” Hill said. “We felt for a long time we needed to get well in excess of a billion dollars to really drive the earnings and have the scale and scope of a wealth platform. And this takes us well in excess of the billion-dollar mark.”
SCBT will acquire Savannah Bancorp for $67.1 million. Founded in 1990, Savannah Bancorp operates two banking subsidiaries, The Savannah Bank and Bryan Bank & Trust, which collectively have 11 locations in South Carolina and Georgia.
Upon completion of the transaction, the combined company will have approximately $5.3 billion in total assets, $4.5 billion in total deposits, $3.8 billion in total loans, and a network of 87 branches in the Carolinas and Georgia.
Shareholders of Savannah Bancorp will receive 0.2503 shares of SCBT common stock for each share of SAVB common stock.
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