KEENE, N.H., Oct. 4, 2000 (PRIMEZONE) -- Charles W. Smith, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Granite State Bankshares, Inc. (Nasdaq:GSBI) announced today that Granite Bank, its wholly owned subsidiary, has signed an agreement with Webster Bank, a subsidiary of Webster Financial Corp., to purchase the two branch offices of Olde Port Bank, a division of Webster Bank, located in the city of Portsmouth and the town of Hampton, both in Rockingham County, New Hampshire. The Olde Port branches have approximately $47 million in deposits and repurchase agreements, and $47 million in loans. Subject to regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close by December 31, 2000.
In announcing the transaction, Mr. Smith stated "We are very pleased to have the opportunity to further expand our franchise on the seacoast of New Hampshire through the acquisition of the Olde Port Bank branches. Combined, our seacoast network will consist of one branch office in Durham, one branch in Hampton, and three in Portsmouth. Both Granite and Olde Port customers will benefit from the convenience of an expanded branch network. We believe Granite's strong, local presence, coupled with our commitment to full service, personal banking represents what Olde Port's customers have come to expect and we look forward to meeting with them soon."
Smith further added, "Our existing network on the seacoast will enable us to absorb the Olde Port branches and banking business with little additional fixed overhead. This transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings in 2001 and enhance the overall value of our banking franchise."
Granite Bank will be communicating soon with Olde Port customers to explain how their banking relationships will be handled following the transfer. "We will be working to ensure a smooth transition over the coming months," said Smith.
Based upon information obtained from Webster records, as of July 31, 2000 the loans acquired from the Olde Port Bank branches totaled approximately $47 million, including commercial and industrial and commercial real estate loans of $43 million, residential loans of $3 million, and consumer loans of $1 million. In addition, deposit and repurchase agreement liabilities assumed totaled approximately $47 million, consisting of transaction accounts of $25 million, savings accounts of $5 million, time certificates of $16 million, and repurchase agreements of $1 million.
Granite State Bankshares, Inc. headquartered in Keene, New Hampshire, is the holding company of Granite Bank; a New Hampshire chartered commercial bank. Had the acquisition of these branches been effective on June 30, 2000, the Company would be operating 19 branch banking offices throughout southern New Hampshire in Cheshire, Hillsborough, Merrimack, Rockingham and Strafford Counties, and would have had total assets of approximately $925 million, deposits of $696 million and total equity of $69 million. Granite Bank is the largest independent bank headquartered in New Hampshire.
Certain statements contained herein are not based on historical facts and are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements may be identified by reference to a future period or periods, or by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as "may," "will," "believe," "expect," "estimate," "anticipate," "continue," or similar terms or variations on those terms, or the negative of those terms. Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those related to the economic environment, particularly in the market areas in which the company operates, competitive products and pricing, fiscal and monetary policies of the U.S. Government, changes in government regulations affecting financial institutions, including regulatory fees and capital requirements, changes in prevailing interest rates, acquisitions and the integration of acquired businesses, credit risk management, asset-liability management, the financial and securities markets and the availability of and costs associated with sources of liquidity.
The Company wishes to caution readers not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company wishes to advise readers that the factors listed above could affect the Company's financial performance and could cause the Company's actual results for future periods to differ materially from any opinions or statements expressed with respect to future periods in any current statements. The Company does not undertake and specifically declines any obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions which may be made to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.