United Community Bank Acquires Business Carolina, Inc. To Expand SBA Lending Business
June 27, 2014
BLAIRSVILLE, GA – United Community Banks, Inc. (NASDAQ: UCBI) (“United”) announced today that its subsidiary, United Community Bank, has acquired Columbia, S.C.-based commercial lender Business Carolina, Inc. (“BCI”). The acquisition includes approximately $25 million of loans, $6 million of other assets and substantially all of BCI’s employees.
“We are pleased to welcome the customers and employees of BCI to United Community Bank,” said Lynn Harton, President and Chief Operating Officer of the Bank. “BCI has a long history of providing outstanding service to its customers, and United Community Bank is known as ‘The Bank that SERVICE Built’ for our award-winning customer service. The addition of BCI’s experienced team and its strong lending platform is a natural expansion of our SBA lending business that ultimately benefits our customers.”
BCI will operate as a division of United Community Bank under its trade name of BCI Lending together with United Community Bank in Columbia and throughout United’s footprint.
“We are fortunate to have found an organization that shares our commitment to building strong relationships with our customers,” said Mike Sandusky, President and CEO of BCI Lending. “It was important to BCI to find a partner that operates under the same guiding values. We are confident our customers remain in good hands with United Community Bank.”
BCI Lending offers commercial loans of $50,000 to $5 million to small businesses throughout Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The company specializes in Small Business Administration (SBA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) loans. The loans help fund small businesses with everything from acquiring land and renovating facilities to purchasing equipment and refinancing debt as well as funding for startup companies.
About United Community Banks, Inc.
United Community Banks, Inc. is a bank holding company based in Blairsville, Georgia, with $7.4 billion in assets. The company’s banking subsidiary, United Community Bank, is one of the Southeast region’s largest full-service banks, operating 102 offices in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The bank specializes in providing personalized community banking services to individuals, small businesses and corporations. Services include a full range of consumer and commercial banking services, including mortgage, advisory and treasury management products. United Community Bank is consistently recognized for its outstanding customer service by national survey organizations. Additional information about the company and the bank’s full line of products and services can be found at www.ucbi.com.
