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Alliance Bankshares Corp. and Eagle Bancorp Inc. mutually agreed to terminate their merger agreement, leaving Chantilly, Va.-based Alliance in search of a new suitor.
A Nov. 28 announcement cited "irreconcilable differences of opinion" related to the merger.
"I feel like it's a divorce," Eagle Chairman, President and CEO Ronald Paul quipped during a presentation at the FBR Capital Markets Fall Investor Conference on Nov. 29. "We went through therapy, and we just couldn't work out the differences, so we decided it was time to split."
Ultimately, Paul said Bethesda, Md.-based Eagle decided there were some issues with the deal that it could not accept. "The Alliance deal was a great deal for us if it had worked out. The branch locations were good, their balance sheet mix was good," he said.
Prior to the termination announcement, there were rumors that the deal was facing some hurdles. During a Nov. 10 interview, Paul told SNL that the whole deal process "has taken a lot longer because of the regulatory issues, the numbers issues, the pro formas."
Paul also said he was familiar with rumors of dissident Alliance shareholders, although he noted that none had contacted Eagle.
Alliance President and CEO William Doyle Jr. told SNL during a Nov. 29 interview that shareholder dissent had nothing to do with the termination of the deal. "Certainly the complexity of the deal related to the conversion ratio adjustments made it difficult for people to say, 'Gosh, I'm absolutely 100% on board,' versus, 'Well, I don't really understand all this,'" Doyle said. "Generally speaking, the shareholders that we heard from were supportive...