Home Bancshares bought two more failing banks in Florida - Coastal Community Bank of Panama City and Bayside Savings Bank in Port Saint Joe.

The acquisitions were made with assistance from the FDIC.
 
Depositors of Coastal and Bayside will automatically become depositors of Centennial Bank, the banking subsidiary of Home Bancshares.

“This is a terrific opportunistic acquisition which allows us to further expand our current Florida footprint into attractive, long-term growth markets in the Florida Panhandle. Coastal has a 104-year history of supreme customer service to its local communities and until recently had a history of strong financial performance.  Our goals are to continue providing first-class customer service and to quickly return this franchise back into a high performing community banking organization”, said Home Bancshares CEO Randall Sims.

“The Panhandle represents a natural extension to our current Florida footprint and serves as a popular, long time vacation destination for many Arkansans. The area continues to experience economic growth with the recent opening of Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport and has an unemployment rate well below the Florida state average.  Like central Arkansas, there is a significant military presence in these Florida markets," Sims added.
 
The acquisition will add 13 branch offices to the Conway-based bank holding company's footprint.  It will also add $444 million in assets, $330 million in new loans and $415 million in new deposits to the bank's portfolio.

Home Bancshares' officials say that the acquisitions will allow the bank to remain "well capitalized" by regulatory standards, with no additional capital required to support the transaction.

In March, Home Bancshares bought Old Southern Bank in Orlando, Florida and Key West Bank in Key West in two separate FDIC-assisted transactions.