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Whitney will buy Signature Bank

The New Orleans bank will pick up Signature Financial Holdings of St. Petersburg for $61.7-million.

By HELEN HUNTLEY
Published October 6, 2006

Whitney Holding Corp. of New Orleans said Thursday it will expand its Tampa Bay presence by acquiring Signature Financial Holdings Inc. of St. Petersburg for $61.7-million in cash and stock.

Seven-year-old Signature will fill a gap in the Whitney National Bank footprint, which stretches from Pasco to Sarasota counties.

Whitney moved into the Tampa Bay market two years ago by acquiring Madison BancShares Inc. of Palm Harbor. More recently it added First National Bancshares Inc. of Bradenton.

Signature Bank, which has $270-million in assets, sits between those two banks' territories, with seven branches from Clearwater to St. Petersburg.

"We are excited to enter the St. Petersburg market and add to our presence in the Clearwater area," said Whitney chairman William Marks. The bank, which has $10-billion in assets, also has offices in the Florida Panhandle and in Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Whitney's home base of Louisiana.

"We fit perfectly with them," said Signature president David Feaster, who will become south Pinellas president for Whitney. Signature's 60 other employees also are expected to stay on under Whitney.

Feaster said the bank had not been looking for a partner.

"This happened very quickly," he said. "In fact we just raised some capital."

Craig Sher, Beth Houghton and Bob Willis are the largest shareholders in the privately held Signature.

"When somebody walks in the door with an extraordinary offer, it's awfully hard to turn it down," said Benjamin Bishop, chairman of Allen C. Ewing Co., an investment banking firm that specializes in financial institutions.

Bishop said Whitney will pay 3.1 times book value, compared with an average of 2.7 or 2.8 for other recent transactions, and 34 times the last 12 months' earnings, compared with an average of 25 to 26.

Whitney will pay a combination of cash and company stock, which is traded on Nasdaq. No more than 49 percent of the deal can be cash.

The acquisition, which is subject to approval by regulators and Signature shareholders, is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year.

Helen Huntley can be reached at hhuntley@sptimes.com or 727 893-8230.

[Last modified October 5, 2006, 22:58:23]