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Nutter Represents Eastern Bankshares, Inc. in Pending $642 Million Merger With Century Bancorp, Inc.
Print PDFNutter is serving as legal counsel to Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (Nasdaq Global Select Market: EBC), the stock holding company for Eastern Bank, in connection with its agreement to acquire Century Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq: CNBKA), the stock holding company for Century Bank and Trust Company, in an all cash transaction valued at $642 million. The deal team is being led by Michael Krebs, chair of Nutter’s Corporate and Transactions Department and a co-leader of the firm’s Banking and Financial Services group, and includes Josh Gray, Kate Henry, Ken Ehrlich, Tom Curry, Steve Patterson, Matt Hanaghan, Mary Moran, and Yongha Lee on corporate and regulatory matters; Erin Whitney, Michael Mooney, Laura Marsell, Chris McLoon, and Melissa Sampson McMorrow on tax and executive compensation matters; David Rubin and Emily Grannon Fox on labor and employment matters; Beth Mitchell and Brent McDonald on real estate matters; and Ian Roffman and Gabe Rossman on securities matters.
“The Nutter team, led by Mike Krebs, continues to be our go-to partner on our most important, complex and high stakes corporate transactions and regulatory matters. Nutter was instrumental in our successful IPO, and provided outstanding service for our pending merger with Century,” said Kathleen Henry, Chief Human Resources Officer, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Eastern Bank. “We deeply value our long-standing relationship with Nutter and are grateful for their legal and regulatory expertise, deep knowledge of our Company and commitment to exceptional client service.”
When completed, the merger will create a $22 billion combined franchise and solidify Eastern’s leading position in Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, coming less than six months after Eastern’s initial public offering that raised approximately $1.7 billion in equity capital. Eastern has approximately $16 billion in assets, the largest deposit market share in both the Boston MSA and Massachusetts of any bank headquartered in Massachusetts and owns the third largest insurance agency in Massachusetts. Century Bank, with $6.4 billion in assets, is the third largest Massachusetts headquartered bank in the Boston MSA.
The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021, subject to certain conditions, including the receipt of required regulatory approvals, shareholder approval, and other standard conditions. Upon closing, Eastern intends to merge Century into Eastern with Eastern continuing as the surviving entity and concurrently merge Century Bank into Eastern Bank and convert Century customers to the Eastern platform with Century Bank branches assuming the Eastern Bank name. Read more about the transaction.
Nutter’s Banking and Financial Services attorneys serve as corporate and regulatory counsel to banks, savings institutions, and other financial institutions and address a wide range of banking clients’ needs, including new bank formations, mergers and acquisitions, holding company formations, conversions, interstate expansion, the introduction of new products and services, including securities, insurance and trust services, and electronic banking.
Nutter’s Corporate and Transactions Department represents domestic and international corporations, publicly traded and privately-held companies, private equity firms, nonprofit institutions, and family-owned businesses in a wide variety of domestic and cross-border transactions. The firm’s attorneys advise on significant transactions in every major industry sector, including manufacturing, high technology, life sciences, banking, professional services, real estate, energy, medical devices, and health care. Nutter’s corporate law practice handles the full range of M&A and private equity transactions, including representing buyers and sellers in auctions and bid processes, mergers, asset sales, stock purchases, leveraged buyouts, roll-ups, joint ventures, PIPEs, going private transactions, exchanges of securities, friendly and hostile tender offers, and proxy contests.
About Nutter
Nutter is a Boston-based law firm that provides legal counsel to industry-leading companies, early stage entrepreneurs, institutions, foundations, and families, across the country and around the world. The firm’s business and finance, intellectual property, litigation, real estate and land use, labor and employment, tax, and trusts and estates practices are national in scope. The firm was co-founded in 1879 by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, before his appointment to the Court. For more information, please visit www.nutter.com and follow the firm on LinkedIn.
