The Bank of Princeton to Acquire Five Beneficial Bank Branches in New Jersey

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Feb 04, 2019, 16:15 ET

PRINCETON, N.J. and PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bank of Princeton (Nasdaq: BPRN) and Beneficial Bancorp, Inc. ("Beneficial") (Nasdaq: BNCL) today announced that Beneficial Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Beneficial, has entered into a purchase and assumption agreement to sell five branches in Bordentown, Browns Mills, Chesterfield, Deptford, and Sicklerville, New Jersey to The Bank of Princeton. These are the five retail banking offices previously identified by WSFS Financial Corporation ("WSFS"), and its subsidiary WSFS Bank, on December 13, 2018 as being outside of the combined core footprint of Beneficial and WSFS following the previously announced merger of the two companies, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019.

The purchase and assumption agreement provides for the transfer by Beneficial Bank to The Bank of Princeton of $190.0 million in deposits, the land and buildings associated with four Beneficial Bank branches, and other assets, in exchange for [$2.66 million], the net book value of such other assets, and a deposit premium equal to 7.37% of the average daily deposits for 30 days ending on the third business day preceding closing.

The purchase of the branches by The Bank of Princeton is subject to regulatory approval and satisfaction of certain conditions, including the closing of WSFS' acquisition of Beneficial. The Bank of Princeton expects to close on its acquisition of the five Beneficial Bank branches in the second quarter of 2019, at which point they will be converted to operate under The Bank of Princeton name.

Boenning & Scattergood, Inc. acted as financial advisor to WSFS Bank, as successor in interest to Beneficial Bank following its planned merger with and into WSFS Bank. Covington & Burling LLP acted as legal counsel to WSFS Bank. The Bank of Princeton was represented by the law firm of Stevens & Lee, P.C.

About The Bank of Princeton
The Bank of Princeton is a community bank founded in 2007. The Bank of Princeton is a New Jersey state-chartered commercial bank with eleven branches in New Jersey, including three in Princeton and others in Cream Ridge, Hamilton, Pennington, Montgomery, Monroe, Lambertville, Lawrenceville, and New Brunswick. There are also three branches in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, operating as MoreBank, a division of The Bank of Princeton. The Bank of Princeton is a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC").

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This release contains forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements can often, but not always, be identified by the use of words like "believe", "continue", "pattern", "estimate", "project", "intend", "anticipate", "expect" and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will", would", "should", "could", "might", "can", "may", or similar expressions. These statements include statements of The Bank of Princeton's goals, intentions and expectations; statements regarding The Bank of Princeton's business plan and growth strategies; statements regarding the asset quality of The Bank of Princeton's loan and investment portfolios; and estimates of The Bank of Princeton's risks and future costs and benefits. These forward-looking statements are subject to significant risks, assumptions and uncertainties that may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in forward-looking statements, including, among other things: possible changes in monetary and fiscal policies, and laws and regulations; the effects of easing restrictions on participants in the financial services industry; the cost and other effects of legal and administrative cases; possible changes in the credit worthiness of customers and the possible impairment of collectability of loans; fluctuations in market rates of interest; competitive factors in the banking industry; changes in the banking legislation or regulatory requirements of federal and state agencies applicable to banks like The Bank of Princeton; continued availability of earnings and excess capital sufficient for the lawful and prudent declaration of dividends; and changes in market, economic, operational, liquidity, credit and interest rate risks associated with The Bank of Princeton's business. The Bank of Princeton does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, relating to the matters discussed in this press release. In addition, The Bank of Princeton's past results of operations do not necessarily indicate its anticipated future results.

Contact:

George S. Rapp, Executive Vice President and CFO
(609) 454 - 0718
[email protected]

SOURCE The Bank of Princeton