Blue Ridge Bank, Bay Banks complete merger

Transaction creates bank with $2.8B in assets

Published February 1, 2021 by Sydney Lake

Charlottesville-based Blue Ridge Bankshares Inc., the parent holding company of Blue Ridge Bank, announced Monday it has completed the merger with Richmond-based Bay Banks of Virginia Inc., the parent holding company of Virginia Commonwealth Bank.

Virginia Commonwealth Bank will continue to operate under its current name until systems are converted in May. The bank will eventually operate under the Blue Ridge name and trade under BRBS on the NYSE American stock exchange. The holding company will be based in Charlottesville and the subsidiary bank will be headquartered in Richmond.

The combined bank has approximately $2.8 billion in assets, $2.1 billion in loans and $1.9 billion in deposits, based on Sept. 30, 2020 data. This ranks the bank No. 4 in the state for community bank deposit market share for institutions under $10 billion in assets, according to the bank’s August 2020 announcement.

The transaction creates a bank with a pro forma total market capitalization of nearly $230 million. On Jan. 21, Blue Ridge announced its shareholders had approved the merger.

Under the terms of the agreement, Bay Banks shareholders will receive 0.5 shares of Blue Ride common stock for each share of Bay Banks common stock they own. Bay Bank shareholders will own approximately 54% while Blue Ridge shareholders will own approximately 46% of the combined company once the transaction is complete.

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