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United Community Bank Acquires Huntsville’s Progress Bank

After 14 successful years of banking within and around the Huntsville community, Progress Financial Corporation announced this morning that the company was officially acquired by United Community Bank

This merger agreement, where United will acquire Progress, was executed in an all-stock transaction with an aggregate value of approximately $271.5 million, or $23.52 per share of Progress common stock, based on United’s closing stock price of $30.55 as of May 3, 2022.

Progress Bank, founded and headquartered in Huntsville, has a total of 14 locations spread across both Alabama and Florida, including Birmingham, Daphne, and Tuscaloosa in Alabama and Destin, Panama City, and Santa Rosa Beach along the Florida Panhandle. Each location is strategically focused on a high-growth market located in the southeast. 

As of late March of this year, Progress Bank had total assets of around $1.9 billion, total loans of $1.3 billion, and total deposits of $1.7 billion. Apart from traditional banking services, Progress Bank also offers expert wealth management and private banking through Progress Financial Services, a division of Progress Bank, which holds around $1.2 billion in assets. 

Currently, United’s total assets are around $24.4 billion with 198 offices in five states. With the merger, United’s overall assets will increase to $26.3 billion, with around 200 offices in seven states.

Led by President and CEO David Nast, Progress Bank has been an active member within the community of Huntsville and a major part of Huntsville’s growing economy over the past few years. 

In an interview with the Huntsville Business Journal, Nast confirmed that Progress Bank leadership will be easily integrated throughout the merger process. 

“We are very positive about United’s approach about integrating all of our people. The majority of the senior management team will stay on board, and continue to run important markets for the bank. What this does is creates opportunities more than anything,” said Nast.unnamed

United brings a geographic model of leadership to their markets, meaning that Nast will shift to acting as a State President of Alabama, including the Florida panhandle locations. In the same interview with the Huntsville Business Journal, United Community Bank CEO Lynn Harton urged Huntsville customers to understand that little responsibility will change with this geographic model. 

“It’s just how we do things here at United. It has worked for us in the past, and will benefit both Progress bank customers and employees greatly,” Harton added. 

In a statement issued earlier today, both United Community Bank and Progress Bank urged customers to continue banking as normal. 

“The merger represents a market expansion play; there will be little to no overlap with employees and Progress will be able to retain the same faces that have served the Huntsville community for more than a decade,” stated Harton. 

According to both Harton and Nast, business will be as usual for customers in Huntsville. Progress will be able to maintain all branches, including the two under construction in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and in Panama City, Florida. 

“There will be no impact on customers being served,” added Nast. 

When asked about the reason for choosing Progress Bank, Harton stated that Huntsville’s customers and the city’s market were the key factors in United’s decision. 

“If you look at United’s expansion, we are trying to build a great bank, and our measures of success are being a great place for great people to work and having the best customer services in any market we are active within,” said Harton. “What we have tried to do is put our banks within high-growth markets. To put it frankly, it’s easier to swim downstream than it is to swim upstream. And so, we looked first at the markets in Huntsville, Birmingham, and the [Florida] Panhandle. Second, it was the culture. United simply shares a lot of the same banking culture as Progress.” 

Nast agreed, stating that because the culture and goals of the two banks aligned so well, the transition would be easy from both of the banks’ point of view, as well as for the customers in Huntsville. 

“The Banks’ cultures are very similar,” said Nast. “None of our lines of business will go away. And, what’s most important is that the transition will be easy on our employees. We believe that, to take care of our customers, we need to take care of the employees. These are the faces that are working with Huntsville customers and Huntsville businesses.” 

“Simply put, customers bank with people, and we want Huntsville customer banking with familiar faces,” Harton agreed. 

The merger also provides added benefits for Huntsville customers. According to Harton, one of the best added bonuses comes from their partnership model used during consultation on the commercial side of banking. Apart from Huntsville customers utilizing the same employees and bank representatives that they have used for years, United offers the ability to add a subject-matter-expert on whatever line of business is being covered. In this way, Progress Bank will offer Huntsville customers the same bankers, and the same experience, with the added bonus to more integrated expertise. 

The merger agreement was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both Progress and United, with the merger expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2022. 

For more information, or to contact your local Progress team with any questions regarding the merger announcement, please visit https://www.myprogressbank.com/

 

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