EverBank wanted Sterling Bank and Trust – not its parent company

EverBank wanted Sterling Bank and Trust – not its parent company (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Daily Record) — EverBank Financial Corp. agreed Sept. 15 to buy Sterling Bank and Trust and its 25 California branches but wanted no part of the bank’s troubled parent company, according to a proxy statement filed by Sterling Bancorp Inc.

Jacksonville-based EverBank agreed to pay $261 million to Michigan-based Sterling Bancorp to buy its bank subsidiary. 

After that deal is completed, expected early in 2025, publicly traded Sterling Bancorp will dissolve and distribute the $261 million to its shareholders.

Sterling Bancorp began looking for a buyer in December 2022 and as it discussed deals with potential buyers, it agreed in March 2023 to plead guilty to securities fraud related to a mortgage program at the bank.

The proxy statement filed Oct. 16 said that in a telephone conversation between Sterling and EverBank officials in July 2024, “EverBank indicated that it would now be willing to acquire the Bank in a merger of the Bank with and into EverBank, National Association but in no event would it be willing to acquire the Company because of collateral consequences from acquiring an entity that is subject to a guilty plea for securities fraud.”

EverBank made an offer in May to acquire just the bank’s offices in California, but Sterling officials thought that deal would be too complicated for several reasons, including its need to deal with the bank’s other two branches in Michigan and Flushing, New York.

Everbank eventually did agree to buy Sterling Bank with its 25 California offices and the one New York branch. The branch at Sterling’s headquarters in Southfield, Michigan, will be closed.

The structure of the deal “would result in the Company receiving cash consideration and then winding down, which would permit a significantly faster distribution of transaction proceeds to the Company’s shareholders compared to the previously proposed structure,” the proxy statement said.

“EverBank’s retail deposit business is conducted primarily through its online direct bank and is seeking a stable branch platform to diversify and expand funding sources, including a California operation where a portion of its management team is located,” the statement said.

EverBank does most of its business online but has four full-service branches in Jacksonville and six in other Florida cities, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data.

It opened a new Jacksonville branch Oct. 22 at 4211 San Juan Blvd. in the Ortega neighborhood, which replaced a branch at 501 Riverside Ave.

The bank announced Oct. 22 it plans to open another branch at 2200 S. Third St. in Jacksonville Beach.