HomeTrust Bancshares To Buy Jefferson Bancshares

(RTTNews) - HomeTrust Bancshares, Inc. (HTBI) said Thursday that it has agreed to buy Jefferson Bancshares, Inc. (JFBI) for a total consideration of about $51.2 million.

Under the terms of the deal, Jefferson shareholders will receive a total of $8.00 per share in merger consideration consisting of $4.00 in cash plus $4.00 in HomeTrust common stock.

Upon the completion of the deal, the combined company is expected to have about $2.1 billion in assets.

Established in 1963, Jefferson Federal Bank is headquartered in Morristown, Tennessee. Its holding company, Jefferson Bancshares, Inc., has over $498 million in combined assets. Jefferson operates a total of 12 banking facilities in Hamblen County, Knoxville, and the greater Johnson City and Kingsport, Tennessee areas.

The deal, which has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies, is expected to close in the second calendar quarter of 2014.

HomeTrust expects the deal to be accretive to earnings, before merger costs, at about $0.18 per share in the first year of combined operations and accretive to tangible book value in about 33 months.