One of Tampa Bay’s biggest banks expands into Atlanta with $360M deal


CenterState Bank Corp. has agreed to buy Charter Financial Corp. in Georgia in a cash and stock deal valued at $360.1 million.

The deal gives CenterState (NASDAQ: CSFL), based in Winter Haven, its first entry in commercial banking in the Georgia and Alabama markets, including Atlanta, where Charter Financial’s CharterBank has nearly a dozen branch offices.

CenterState CEO John Corbett said as recently as February that he viewed Atlanta as a logical expansion market for the bank.

CenterState…

Previous State Street could leave its flagship tower in Boston in search of new headquarters
Next San Francisco startup’s founders pony up $20 million to square off against Square