By Donald Gilpin

The Bank of Princeton announced last week that it will buy five Beneficial Bank branches in Bordentown, Browns Mills, Chesterfield, Deptford, and Sicklerville, New Jersey. 

According to the purchase and assumption agreement between the two banks, The Bank of Princeton will receive $190 million in deposits, the land and buildings associated with four Beneficial Bank branches (the fifth is a lease), and other assets, in exchange for $2.66 million, the net book value of such other assets, and a deposit premium equal to 7.37 percent of the average daily deposits for 30 days ending on the third business day preceding closing. 

In commenting on the purchase, Bank of Princeton Executive Vice President and CFO George S. Rapp said, “The new branches will generate additional earnings, making us a stronger institution. They will also create a larger service area for our customers.”

Three of the branches to be acquired are in Burlington County. Two are further south, Sicklerville in Camden County and Deptford in Gloucester County.

Beneficial is planning to close next month on a merger with WSFS Financial Corporation, which previously identified the five retail banking offices as being outside the combined core footprint of Beneficial and WSFS.

The Bank of Princeton’s purchase is subject to regulatory approval and satisfaction of certain conditions, including the closing of WSFS’s acquisition of Beneficial. The Bank of Princeton expects to close on its acquisition of the five branches in the second quarter of 2019, at which point the branches will begin operating under the name of The Bank of Princeton.

Founded in 2007, The Bank of Princeton has 11 branches in New Jersey — three in Princeton and others in Cream Ridge, Hamilton, Pennington, Montgomery, Monroe, Lambertville, Lawrenceville, and New Brunswick — and three branches in Philadelphia operating as MoreBank, a division of The Bank of Princeton.