On May 21, 2020, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve Board”) approved the previously announced merger of equals between CenterState Bank Corporation (“CenterState”) and South State Corporation (“South State”) pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of January 25, 2020, by and between CenterState and South State. All required regulatory approvals to complete the merger and the merger of the respective bank subsidiaries of CenterState and South State have now been received.
Completion of the mergers remains subject to customary closing conditions. Assuming such conditions are satisfied, the combined bank is expected to open for business on or about June 8, 2020.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements
Information in this communication, other than statements of historical facts, may constitute forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the benefits of the proposed merger of South State and CenterState, including future financial and operating results (including the anticipated impact of the transaction on South State's and CenterState's respective earnings and tangible book value), statements related to the expected timing of the completion of the merger, the combined company's plans, objectives, expectations and intentions, and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements may be identified by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “scheduled,” “plans,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “believes,” “estimates,” “potential,” or “continue” or negatives of such terms or other comparable terminology.
All forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of South State or CenterState to differ materially from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, (1) the risk that the cost savings and any revenue synergies from the merger may not be fully realized or may take longer than anticipated to be realized, (2) disruption to the parties' businesses as a result of the announcement and pendency of the merger, (3) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement, (4) the risk that the integration of each party's operations will be materially delayed or will be more costly or difficult than expected or that the parties are otherwise unable to successfully integrate each party's businesses into the other's businesses, (5) the amount of the costs, fees, expenses and charges related to the merger, (6) reputational risk and the reaction of each company's customers, suppliers, employees or other business partners to the merger, (7) the failure of the closing conditions in the merger agreement to be satisfied, or any unexpected delay in closing the merger, (8) the possibility that the merger may be more expensive to complete than anticipated, including as a result of unexpected factors or events, (9) the dilution caused by South State's issuance of additional shares of its common stock in the merger, (10) a material adverse change in the financial condition of South State or CenterState, (11) general competitive, economic, political and market conditions, (12) major catastrophes such as earthquakes, floods or other natural or human disasters, including infectious disease outbreaks, including the recent outbreak of a novel strain of coronavirus, a respiratory illness, the related disruption to local, regional and global economic activity and financial markets, and the impact that any of the foregoing may have on South State or CenterState and its customers and other constituencies, and (13) other factors that may affect future results of CenterState and South State including changes in asset quality and credit risk; the inability to sustain revenue and earnings growth; changes in interest rates and capital markets; inflation; customer borrowing, repayment, investment and deposit practices; the impact, extent and timing of technological changes; capital management activities; and other actions of the Federal Reserve Board and legislative and regulatory actions and reforms. Additional factors which could affect future results of CenterState and South State can be found in the registration statement on Form S-4, as amended, as well as South State's Annual Report on Form 10-K, as amended, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K, and CenterState's Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K, in each case filed with the SEC and available on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. CenterState and South State disclaim any obligation and do not intend to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this communication, which speak only as of the date hereof, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by federal securities laws.