NBT to acquire Alliance

SYRACUSE — NBT Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NBTB) plans to acquire Syracuse–based Alliance Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ALNC) in a deal worth more than $233 million.

The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2013 and values Alliance stock at $48 per share. The stock closed trading Friday at $39.41. Shares of NBT closed at $22.15 on Friday.

NBT, based in Norwich, has $6 billion in assets and 135 branches in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. The banking company also owns a 401(k) record keeping firm and an insurance agency.

Alliance has more than $1.4 billion in total assets and 28 bank branches in Cortland, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, and Oswego counties. The company also owns an equipment lease financing company and operates an investment management administration center in Buffalo.

“We believe this combination will create significant value for Alliance shareholders, both immediately and longer term,” Alliance Chairman, President, and CEO Jack Webb said in a news release. “Furthermore, we’re confident that the banking philosophy shared by NBT and Alliance will ensure that our customers will continue to receive high-quality service from a bank that thinks and acts locally.”

Following the closing, all Alliance offices will become NBT locations. Webb will join NBT’s board of directors and the company’s management team as executive vice president for strategic support.

Two other current members of Alliance’s board will become directors at NBT as well.

NBT already has 97 branches in upstate New York and much of Alliance’s footprint is contiguous with counties where NBT currently operates. The acquisition will bring NBT $890 million in net loans held for investment and $1.1 billion in deposits.

“This agreement represents an exciting opportunity for our banks to come together and leverage our shared commitment to our customers and communities, creating an even stronger locally-focused bank to serve central New York and thereby enhance stockholder value,” NBT President and CEO Martin Dietrich said in the release.

The deal must still receive regulatory and shareholder approval. The boards of both companies approved it unanimously.

For more on this story, see Friday’s issue of The Central New York Business Journal.

Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com