Sterling Bank shareholders approve its buyout by EverBank

Sterling Bank shareholders approve its buyout by EverBank (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Daily Record) — Sterling Bancorp Inc. said shareholders voted at a special meeting Dec. 18 to approve the sale of its Sterling Bank and Trust subsidiary to Jacksonville-based EverBank.

The deal will give EverBank 25 branches in California, a major brick-and-mortar expansion for the bank which has done most of its business with customers online.

EverBank has four full-service branches in Jacksonville and six in other Florida cities, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. database.

The bank also opened a branch in Encino near Los Angeles in November, according to the database, its first branch outside of Florida before it adds the Sterling offices.

EverBank agreed in September to buy the bank from Michigan-based Sterling Bancorp for $261 million.

Sterling Bancorp agreed in March 2023 to plead guilty to securities fraud related to a mortgage program at the bank, and had been looking for a buyer.

Under its deal with EverBank, Sterling Bancorp will dissolve after the sale of its bank is complete and will distribute proceeds of the sale to its shareholders.

EverBank will take over the 25 Sterling Bank branches in the San Francisco and Los Angeles markets and one branch in Flushing, New York.

Sterling Bank has one other branch at the holding company’s headquarters in Southfield, Michigan, which will be closed.

The company said 74% of shares voted to approve the deal.

“We are very pleased with the overwhelming support for the sale and dissolution by our shareholders, as evidenced by the outcome of the meeting held today,” Sterling Bancorp CEO Thomas O’Brien said in a Dec. 18 news release.

The deal still needs approval by bank regulators. Sterling Bancorp said it expects to complete the deal in the first quarter of 2025.