Premier Financial To Merge With Abigail Adams National For $10.9 Million In Stocks

New York, NY (AHN) - Premier Financial Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PFBI) has decided to merge with Abigail Adams National Bancorp. (NASDAQ: AANB) in an all-stock transaction that is worth at around $10.9 million, the companies said in a joint statement on Thursday.

"We certainly have a history of successfully working through formal regulatory agreements, reorganizing managerial structures and systems, and returning banking franchises to profitability," Premier President and CEO Robert W. Walker said in the statement.

Walker added, "We believe the merger with Adams presents us with another opportunity to revitalize an organization to become a healthy and profitable community banking institution."

Premier Financial Bancorp. is a $732 million community bank holding company with six bank subsidiaries, and Abigail Adams National Bancorp is a $436 million bank holding company headquartered in Washington, DC

The transaction, which is based on Premier's closing stock price on Dec. 31, will create community banking organization that will have consolidated assets of about $1.2 billion, with around $950 million in total deposits and $800 million in total loans.

Under terms of the definitive agreement, each share of Adams common stock will be converted into 0.4461 shares of Premier common stock. Premier anticipates that it will issue approximately 1,545,000 shares of its common stock, the statement said.

The transaction, which is subject to satisfaction of various contractual conditions and requires approval by regulatory agencies and the shareholders of both the companies, is expected to close sometime in the first half of 2009.

In the third quarter, Premier Financial Bancorp reported a 6.8 percent increase in its earnings compared to its third quarter 2007 earnings.

Through Sep. 30, Premier's year-to-date earnings totaled $5.634 million compared to $5.383 million in the first nine months of 2007.