Jacksonville-based EverBank Financial Corp. said Sept. 16 it is expanding into California by acquiring Sterling Bank & Trust FSB.
Privately owned EverBank did not announce terms of the deal but publicly traded Sterling Bancorp Inc. said EverBank is paying $261 million in cash to acquire the bank.
EverBank does most of its business online but has four full-service branches in Jacksonville and six in other Florida cities, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data.
Sterling is headquartered in Southfield, Michigan, where it has one office, but it has 25 California branches in the San Francisco and Los Angeles markets.
It also has one office in Flushing, New York.
EverBank has about $29 billion in deposits, according to FDIC data. The company said it is acquiring $2 billion in deposits from Sterling.
EverBank said the deal is part of a long-term growth strategy.
“This acquisition will significantly accelerate our efforts to expand EverBank’s footprint in the California market, where we recently opened a West Coast headquarters in Irvine and will soon open new financial centers in Roseville and Encino,” CEO Greg Seibly said in a news release.
“The addition of Sterling Bank’s branches in the San Francisco Bay area and in metro Los Angeles/Orange County will enable us to deliver our value-added products and services to even more California consumer and commercial clients,” he said.
Sterling said it had been looking for a potential merger partner since December 2022.
“Ultimately, Sterling’s board of directors determined that there was no practical way to pursue any form of stand-alone independent operations given the extremely high costs required and the multiple years needed to execute a new strategic vision without risking ongoing losses and substantial loss of capital,” CEO Thomas O’Brien said in a news release.
“EverBank has both the cash and capital to execute without need of further financing and we do not anticipate unusual delays in the regulatory approval process,” he said.
EverBank was a publicly traded company before it was acquired by TIAA in 2018.
TIAA sold the bank to a group of investment funds in August 2023.
EverBank said it expects to complete the acquisition of Sterling in the first quarter of 2025.