Community Bank of Rowan merger approved

By Emily Ford

eford@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — The merger between VantageSouth Bank and Community Bank of Rowan has received all necessary regulatory and shareholder approvals and should close around Feb. 1.

And the name may not change, after all.

Piedmont Community Bank Holdings, which owns Bank of Rowan and is the majority shareholder of VantageSouth, is evaluating all brands under its umbrella, spokeswoman Amanda Fennell said.

While the parent company is exploring possible name changes, “nothing has been decided,” she said.

Bank of Rowan was established in 2006 and is headquartered in Salisbury. As of September, it had grown to 23 employees at two locations. Piedmont acquired 100 percent of Rowan in April.

“Rowan has always been a solid-performing company,” said Scott Custer, CEO of Piedmont Community Bank Holdings.

Bank of Rowan’s previous holding company, Capital Bancorp Ltd. of Lansing, Mich., had financial issues, Custer said.

Bruce Jones, founder and former CEO for Bank of Rowan, said the bank merged to get out from under the holding company.

“But the bank itself was a strong, well-capitalized bank and performed well,” said Jones, who recently left the bank to go into real estate and consider a run for public office.

Seamus Donaldson has succeeded Jones as market president for Bank of Rowan.

Piedmont paid a premium for the bank, Jones said.

Piedmont announced in October it was buying VantageSouth Bank of Burlington and planned to merge it with Rowan. VantageSouth, which was established in 2006, is headquartered in Burlington and serves Alamance County and the surrounding areas through two locations.

The bank “had a history of what I would call under-performance and not great financial performance,” Custer said. “We have subsequently turned those things around.”

Both Rowan and VantageSouth are in “very good financial condition,” he said.

They came together under Piedmont’s common ownership, and when both banks needed additional capital, it made sense to merge them, Custer said.

As part of a larger company with a bigger capital base, the combined bank will now be better positioned to serve the banking needs of businesses, business owners and professionals in the Alamance and Rowan communities, Custer said.

“We’re excited for what this merger means for our customers and feel certain that customers of both banks will continue to enjoy our honest, direct approach to community banking to which they’ve become accustomed,” he said.

Once limited by regulators to loans of up to $1.5 million, Community Bank of Rowan can lend up to $2.5 million since Piedmont’s purchase. The merger with VantageSouth again boosted the loan size, giving Rowan the ability to handle larger customers.

Bank of Rowan focuses on small business lending. It ranked third in the state for Small Business Administration loans and fifth in Rowan County out of 14 banks for deposits.

With the merger, VantageSouth is the “surviving bank” with combined boards of directors and management teams from both banks serving the new financial institution.

The combined bank emerged with roughly $1.2 billion in total assets.

Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.