Tower Bancorp completes acquisition of First Chester

Tower Bancorp, Inc. has announced that it completed its previously announced acquisition of First Chester County Corporation, creating a community banking organization with approximately $2.7 billion in total assets, $2.3 billion in deposits, and a branch network of 49 offices in central and southeastern Pennsylvania and Maryland.

“We are delighted with the closing of this transaction and look forward to moving ahead as a stronger, unified organization, building sustained value for our key stakeholders,” said Andrew Samuel, chairman and CEO of Tower Bancorp, Inc.

John A. Featherman, III, Chairman, CEO and president of First Chester continued, “By joining organizations with similar cultures and local community focus, we’ve created a bank with improved access and greater convenience that offers more choices for our customers. We look forward to capitalizing on the tremendous opportunity ahead and to build on our complementary strengths and bring better banking and wealth management services to all of our local communities.”

Under the terms of the merger agreement, each share of First Chester common stock will be exchanged for 0.356 shares of Tower common stock. The all-stock transaction is valued at approximately $49.5 million based on Tower’s closing share price of $22.03 on Dec. 9.

With completion of the merger, the former First National Bank of Chester County locations in Chester County will operate as a division of Graystone Tower Bank, leveraging the bank’s recognizable orange brand under a new name, 1N Bank. Tower Chief Operating Officer Jeff Renninger will lead the 1N Bank division team during the initial integration period until a division president is named, with support from John A. Featherman, III as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the 1N Bank division, and executives Dave Roland, SVP and Commercial Loan Manager, and Elizabeth Golding, SVP and Retail Executive.