Esquire Financial Holdings in Jericho, N.Y., has agreed to buy Signature Bancorp. in Rosemont, Ill.
The $2.8 billion-asset Esquire said in a press release that it will pay $348.4 million in stock for the $2 billion-asset Signature. The deal, which is expected to close in the third quarter, priced Signature at 153% of its tangible book value.
The exchange ratio is subject to an adjustment based on the disposition value of certain Signature loans with a total par value of about $70 million. Signature has initiated a sale process and expects to sell the loans before the deal closes.
The acquisition “is compelling on multiple levels,” Andrew Sagliocca, Esquire’s vice chairman, president and CEO, said in the release. “It enhances our operating profile, expands our resources, and diversifies our balance sheet while maintaining a robust capital position for continued expansion in our unique national litigation platform.”
The deal is expected to be 23% accretive to Esquire’s 2027 earnings per share and 11% accretive to its tangible book value. Esquire plans to cut about 5% of Signature’s annual noninterest expenses, or $1.1 million. Esquire plans to incur about $35.5 million in pretax merger-related expenses.
Leonard Caronia, Signature’s chairman, and Michael O’Rourke, the company’s president and CEO, will join Esquire’s board. O’Rourke will become president of Signature, a division of Esquire Bank.
Piper Sandler and Luse Gorman advised Esquire. Raymond James and Vedder Price advised Signature.