UPPER DARBY >> Township-based Eagle National Bank has been sold to ESSA Bancorp for $24.7 million in a cash transaction and the sale is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and with assets of $175.7 million, Eagle National has its headquarters at 8045 West Chester Pike and branches at 354 West Lancaster Ave. in Haverford; 48 W. Marshall Road in Lansdowne; 410 W. Lancaster Ave. in Devon; and 1304 Wilmington Pike in West Chester.
“We are delighted to have this opportunity to partner with Eagle National Bank, as this transaction provides a platform for us to expand our presence into the suburban Philadelphia market,” said Gary S. Olson, president and CEO of ESSA Bancorp.
Founded in 1916 by John Gish as the East Strousburg Building and Loan Bank, ESSA Bancorp has total assets of $1.58 billions and has been going through an acquisition phase for the last few years.
In 2011, ESSA acquired two Bethlehem employee insurance and benefits consulting firms, which have become the offices of ESSA Advisory Services.
A year later, First Star Bank was purchased, adding nine branches throughout the Lehigh Valley.
In January 2014, ESSA bought the deposits, loans and Marshalls Creek branch from First National Community Bank. Three months later, it purchased Franklin Security Bancorp, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Franklin Security Bank in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pa. area.
Of the Eagle National Bank sale, Olson continued, “This acquisition creates a commercial presence in attractive suburban locations. We believe our relationship banking model, broad menu of business and consumer banking products and services creates tremendous opportunity. We have faith in our model of delivering the right advice in a professional and timely manner. Eagle National Bank’s clients can continue to bank confidently in the future as well.”
Reasons given for the Eagle acquisition included expanding ESSA’s footprint into the western Philadelphia suburbs; leveraging Eagle’s strong commercial real estate and commercial lending platform; capitalizing on Eagle’s use of the Physician’s National Bank division to market products and services to physicians and other health care professionals; and introducing fee-generating services such as employee benefits, trust operations and retail brokerages not presently available through Eagle.
The transaction is anticipated to net ESSA an interest margin of 3.65 percent.
Executives at Eagle National expressed their satisfaction with the acquisition.
“We are extremely excited about this transaction as we believe our Eagle National Bank’s customers and shareholders will benefit greatly from this combination,” Gene C. Maffey, Eagle’s chairman, president and CEO, said. “With ESSA’s breadth of products and services, we believe this transaction will enable us to become the bank of choice in our communities by enhancing our ability to serve the needs of our clients.”
