BancTrust Financial Pops 56% on Trustmark Takeover

Shares of BancTrust Financial Group

are seeing much strength during Tuesday's trading session after the company announced it would merge with Trustmark Corporation

. Both companies signed a definitive agreement pursuant to which BancTrust will merge into Trustmark. BancTrust has 49 offices throughout Alabama and the Florida Panhandle with $1.3 billion in loans and $1.8 billion in deposits as of March 31, 2012. Under the terms of the definitive agreement, which has been approved unanimously by the Boards of Directors of both companies, holders of BancTrust common stock will receive 0.125 shares of Trustmark common stock for each share of BancTrust common stock in a tax-free exchange. Trustmark will issue approximately 2,245,923 shares of its common stock for all issued and outstanding shares of BancTrust common stock. Based upon a price of $24.66 per share of Trustmark common stock, the transaction is valued at approximately $55.4 million, or $3.08 per share of BancTrust common stock. Trustmark intends to repurchase the $50.0 million of BancTrust preferred stock and associated warrant issued to the U. S. Department of Treasury under the Capital Purchase Program. Currently, shares of BancTrust Financial are trading up 56% at $2.97 per share and Trustmark trades up about 1% at $24.94 per share.