This is an updated version of an earlier report.
In a move that’s sure to shake up the lending landscape in Connecticut and beyond, Rockville Bank parent Rockville Financial and United Bank parent United Financial said they have agreed to merge.
If approved, the deal — which the banks are pitching as a “merger of equals” — would create a lender with $4.8 billion in assets, more than 50 branches and a top-five market share in each respective metro area, they said Friday.
The combined entity would take the United name, would be headquartered in Glastonbury and would be 51-percent owned by United shareholders, with Rockville shareholders owning 49 percent.
“This merger is a significant step in our strategy to expand our footprint,” William Crawford, Rockville’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
The banks said they had reached out to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Federal Reserve System, the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Connecticut and Massachusetts bank regulators “to give them a heads up.”
Connecticut Banking Commissioner Howard Pitkin said Friday his office expects to receive shortly the banks’ formal merger application.
United entered the Connecticut market last year through the acquisition of the 15-branch New England Bank.
United and Rockville expect to save $17.6 million in expenses per year as a result of combining their operations.
Rockville Bank’s new chief financial officer said the savings will include staff cuts in the combined bank’s back-office operations, with some of those cuts coming through attrition. Also both banks have at least four overlapping branches, some of which may close.
If state and federal bank regulators OK the deal, Crawford would be CEO, United Executive Vice President J. Jeffrey Sullivan would be president and Rockville Executive Vice President Eric Newell takes over immediately as CFO, the banks said.
United Bank CEO Richard B. Collins will be retiring.
The 20-person board of directors of the combined entity would have an equal number of seats represented by each bank.
The deal is expected to close in mid-2014.
United stock was up 10 percent on the news in pre-market trading today.
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