FNB United Corp. and Bank of Granite Corp. to Merge (GRAN, FNBN)

Bank of Granite Corp.

, parent company of Bank of Granite, and FNB United Corp.

, parent company of CommunityONE BANK, N.A., today announced plans to merge, contingent on shareholder, regulatory and other approvals, the successful recapitalization of FNB United and other conditions. The merger of these 100-year-old institutions will create a North Carolina community banking organization with approximately $2.9 billion in assets, $2.4 billion in deposits and 63 full-service banking offices located in some of the state's most robust markets. The combined parent company will be called FNB United Corp., and will be operated by new management, led by Brian Simpson as Chief Executive Officer and Bob Reid as President. FNB United will be headquartered in Asheboro, N.C. The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2011. Thereafter, the two bank subsidiaries will be operated as separate entities until a future date, after which the merged bank will be named CommunityONE BANK, N.A.