What LANB/Enterprise Merger Means To Los Alamos

Enterprise President/CEO Jim Lally

 
By CAROL A. CLARK
Los Alamos Daily Post

Speculation has swirled since the announcement last week that Enterprise Financial Services Corp headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., and Trinity Capital Corporation (TCC), the holding company of Los Alamos National Bank have entered into a definitive merger agreement.

TCC/LANB President/CEO John Gulas

How will this merger effect the community? Will the merged bank support local endeavors?

So, this transaction is valued at approximately $213 million and on a pro forma consolidated basis, the combined company would have approximately $7 billion in assets. TCC has approximately $1.3 billion in assets, $714 million in loans, and $1.1 billion in deposits as of June 30. LANB operates six full service banking offices in Los Alamos, Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

Additionally, as of June 30, LANB ranked first and fourth in deposit market share in the Los Alamos and Santa Fe   Metropolitan Statistical Areas with 84 percent and 14 percent of the markets, respectively.

So, what does this merger mean to Los Alamos? Well, it definitely appears to be good news for TCC shareholders in that upon consummation of the transaction, they are set to receive 0.1972 shares of EFSC common stock and $1.84 in cash for each share of TCC common stock they hold. And based on EFSC’s closing price of $43.45 per share on Oct. 31, 2018, the merger consideration mix would result in a total of approximately $38 million in cash and $175 million in EFSC shares.

EFSC President/CEO Jim Lally and TCC/LANB President/CEO John Gulas visited the Los Alamos Daily Post Friday to discuss the merger and what their shared vision means for Los Alamos.

“I so much appreciate the heritage of LANB and the 55-year identity it has in the community and Enterprise will work tirelessly to support the philanthropic history the bank has had … we are going to commit ourselves to those nonprofits that energize the community,” Lally said. “We will offer our associates up to 8 hours of paid time to participate in volunteer activities. We also will match monetary donations our associates make to local organizations.”

Lally added that he is “thrilled” that TCC/LANB has selected Enterprise as its partner. After spending time at the bank and in the community, he said he is more convinced than ever that it’s a perfect fit.

“LANB has a deep history and commitment to their employees, customers and communities that is demonstrated by a dominant market share and extraordinary customer loyalty. Enterprise has a similar philosophy of supporting its communities and encouraging its employees to do the same,” Lally said. “We believe this combination of like cultures positions us to better serve all our constituents for the foreseeable future.”

Gulas spoke about how he believes the merger will fast forward goals LANB intended to achieve over the next several years.

This merger with Enterprise just launched us 3-4 years ahead of where we were headed, “Gulas said. “In Enterprise, we found an ideal partner with shared-values. We believe the complementary strengths of this combined organization will provide a stronger future for our customers, associates and the communities we serve.”

Gulas explained that with the merger the name Los Alamos National Bank will need to change because due to regulations, “National” can’t be retained.

“Heritage is important to all of us but at the end of the day it’s the people inside the bank that count … but we want to be respectful of the heritage name,” Lally said, adding that the bank will formalize a survey to hear from employees, shareholders and the community what they think the merged bank should be named.

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