Cadence Bank Agrees to Merge with Mississippi Lender in $6B Deal

Paul B. Murphy, Jr., chairman and CEO of Cadence Bancorp, at a client’s Wendy’s franchise in Houston. Murphy will serve as executive vice chairman of the combined entity. Photographed Thursday, May 23, 2019.

Houston-based Cadence Bancorporation, parent company of Cadence Bank, announced Monday it would merge with BancorpSouth Bank in an all-stock transaction with a market value of more than $6 billion.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the combined entity would be the fifth-largest institution in Texas and the Southeast, with assets of around $44 billion.

Under the terms of the agreement, which has been approved by the boards of of both companies, Cadence shareholders will receive 0.70 shares of BancorpSouth stock for each share of Cadence they own. Cadence shareholders will also receive a one-time cash dividend of $1.25 per share at closing. When the transaction is completed, expected in the fourth quarter, BancorpSouth shareholders will own approximately 55 percent and Cadence shareholders will own approximately 45 percent of the combined company.

The bank will be named Cadence Bank and will have dual headquarters in Tupelo, Miss., and Houston, with operations centers in Tupelo and Birmingham, Ala., as well as specialty sites in Macon, Ga., Starkville, Miss., and Houston.

Dan Rollins, chairman of BancorpSouth, will be chairman and CEO of the combined entity. Paul Murphy, chairman and CEO of Cadence, will serve as executive vice chairman. The board will initially be comprised of 20 directors - 11 from BancorpSouth and nine from Cadence.

The announcement comes after Cadence Bank said in December it would move its headquarters to the renovated Park Towers office building at 1333 W. Loop South, taking 82,215 square feet of space. The lease included adding the bank’s name to the top of the tower.

Cadence Bank, which had 98 branches in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Mississippi and Tennessee as of Dec. 31, agreed to move into the South Tower as early as December 2021, according to the bank.

Includes previous reporting by Katherine Feser. jonathan.diamond@chron.com