Wayne-based Valley National Bancorp has agreed to buy Leumi, the U.S. subsidiary of Bank Leumi Le-Israel B.M. and parent company of Bank Leumi USA.
The banks have entered into a definitive merger agreement that, once the acquisition is complete, will broaden Valley’s commercial product offerings and provide more revenue diversity, the bank said in a statement. The deal will make Valley the 29th-largest publicly traded U.S. bank by assets.
“Bank Leumi’s unique deposit verticals, including the technology and venture capital business, will continue the significant funding improvement that we have driven over the last few years,” Valley CEO Ira Robbins said. “On the lending side, Bank Leumi will add diversification into niche C&I segments and new geographies, including in California and Illinois.”
Bank Leumi caters to middle-market commercial clients and offers private banking services for high net worth individuals, Valley said. As of June 30, it had $8.4 billion in total assets, total deposits of $7.1 billion and gross loans of $5.4 billion.
Valley said it also plans to leverage Bank Leumi’s platform to grow its own private banking business. With the completion of this deal and a proposed acquisition of Westchester Bank, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, Valley will have $51 billion of assets.
“Leveraging these new and distinct platforms and skillsets will represent the next exciting phase of our evolution as a premier full-service commercial bank,” Robbins said.
The transaction, valued at approximately $1.15 billion, is expected to close by late first quarter or early second quarter in 2022, Valley said. Leumi shareholders have already approved the transaction.