Westbury-based New York Community Bancorp Inc., parent company of New York Community Bank and New York Commercial Bank, announced last Thursday that they have agreed to buy Lake Success-based company Astoria Financial Corp., parent company of Astoria Bank, in a $2 billion deal that will combine Long Island’s two largest banks.
“We are truly excited to be announcing this merger with our neighbor and friendly competitor, Astoria Financial, the parent of 127-year old Astoria Bank,” said Joseph Ficalora, president and chief executive officer of New York Community. “We’ve been prepping for a large merger since the end of 2011 and, now that all the stars have aligned, I have to say, it certainly looks and feels right.”
The merger will result in 241 bank branches in the New York metropolitan area for the merged company, with 202 of the branches in Nassau, Suffolk, Queens, and Brooklyn counties, according to the release.
“We are very pleased to be merging with New York Community Bancorp — the pre-eminent multi-family lender in New York City and a worthy competitor for deposits in the markets we share,” said Monte Redman, Astoria Financial’s president and chief executive officer. “Combining our significant strengths will create an institution that creates exceptional value for our investors while maintaining our strong commitment to our customers and communities throughout Metro New York.”
New York Community Bank is the largest thrift in the nation and one of the leading thrift depositories in most of the markets it serves, according to its website. In New York, the company operate 124 branches through four local divisions, that reflect the growth of the company through a series of mergers with other local thrifts: Queens County Savings Bank, with 38 branches in Queens County; Richmond County Savings Bank, with 22 banking offices on Staten Island; Roosevelt Savings Bank, with nine branches in Brooklyn; and its largest division, Roslyn Savings Bank, with 51 locations in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island.
The company also operate two branches each in the Bronx and Westchester County that operate directly under the name “New York Community Bank”.
New York Community currently holds assets worth $49 billion, while Astoria Financial holds assets worth $15.1 million, according to a New York Community press release.
Redman and Ralph Palleschi, Astoria Financial’s chairman, will become members of the Board of Directors of New York Community and its bank subsidiaries.
Ficalora will continue to serve as president and CEO for the combined company.
Astoria Financial’s branches will operate through a newly formed Astoria Bank Division of New York Community Bank, according to the release.
Ficalora said that he expected the deal to succeed because of the two companies’ similarities.
“Besides the fact that both of our banks are headquartered in Nassau County, there are several additional reasons to expect this deal to succeed. First, the merger combines two companies with similar lines of business. Both of us place an emphasis on multi-family lending and both of us are producers of one-to-four family mortgage loans,” he said. “Both of us take particular pride in providing exceptional customer service, and both of us are deeply committed to the communities we serve. Both of our banks have been around since the mid to late 1800s, which means that both of us have survived, when others could not, a series of credit cycle turns.”
According to the release, stockholders will receive one share of New York Community’s common stock and $.50 in cash for each share of Astoria Financial’s stock held at the merger date.
Neither company discussed the merger’s impact on staff, with New York Community employing 3,416 people and Astoria Financial employing 1,538 people, according to Wall Street Journal company descriptions.
The merger is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2016, the release said.
