LANCASTER, Pa., Aug. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Fulton Financial
Corporation (Nasdaq: FULT) today completed its acquisition of Premier Bancorp,
Inc. (Amex: PPA), a bank holding company whose sole banking subsidiary was
Premier Bank.
Premier Bancorp shareholders approved the merger at a special meeting on
July 10. Final regulatory approvals were received prior to that meeting.
Under the terms of the definitive merger agreement, Premier Bancorp, Inc.
shareholders will receive 1.407 shares of Fulton Financial common stock for
each Premier Bancorp common stock share. Based on the $20.21 per share
closing price of Fulton Financial stock on July 31, 2003, the transaction is
valued at approximately $103.5 million. The acquisition will be accounted for
using the purchase method of accounting. In connection with the transaction,
the outstanding shares of Premier's preferred stock were redeemed and Fulton
assumed Premier's outstanding trust preferred securities.
Premier Bancorp, with approximately $600 million in assets, currently
operates eight community banking offices in Bucks, Northampton and Montgomery
Counties. It is anticipated that, effective October 24, 2003 and subject to
applicable regulatory approvals, the Premier Bank offices located in Bethlehem
and Easton will be transferred to Lafayette Ambassador Bank, another Fulton
Financial Corporation affiliate based in Easton. The six other Premier Bank
branches will continue to operate as a separate subsidiary of Fulton Financial
Corporation.
Fulton Financial Corporation now has assets of approximately $9.2 billion
and operates 198 offices in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey.
In addition to Premier Bank, Fulton Financial operates ten other banking
affiliates: Fulton Bank, Lancaster, PA; Lebanon Valley Farmers Bank, Lebanon,
PA; Swineford National Bank, Middleburg, PA; Lafayette Ambassador Bank,
Easton, PA; FNB Bank, N.A., Danville, PA; Hagerstown Trust, Hagerstown, MD;
Delaware National Bank, Georgetown, DE; The Bank, Woodbury, NJ; The Peoples
Bank of Elkton, Elkton, MD, and Skylands Community Bank, Hackettstown, NJ.
The Corporation's financial services affiliates include Fulton Financial
Advisors, N.A., Lancaster, PA; Dearden, Maguire, Weaver and Barrett, LLC, West
Conshohocken, PA, and Fulton Insurance Services Group Inc., Lancaster, PA.
Residential mortgage lending is offered through Fulton Mortgage Company.
Additional information on Fulton Financial Corporation is available on the
Internet at www.fult.com.
SOURCE Fulton Financial Corporation
-0- 08/01/2003
/CONTACT: Laura J. Wakeley, Fulton Financial Corporation,
+1-717-291-2739/
/Web site: http://www.fult.com /
(FULT PPA)
CO: Fulton Financial Corporation; Premier Bancorp, Inc.; Lafayette Ambassador
Bank
ST: Pennsylvania
IN: FIN
SU: TNM
MZ
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