Eastern Bank will buy Wainwright Bank & Trust Co., a smaller Boston area rival, for about $163 million in an all-cash transaction, the companies said Tuesday.
Wainwright shareholders will receive $19 in cash for each share, nearly double the $9.61 closing price of the stock on Monday. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $5.70 to $10.24.
Wainright shares spiked nearly 100 percent, or $9.16, to $18.77 in early trading.
The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory clearance and approval from Wainwright shareholders.
Wainwright will eventually be folded into Eastern after a transition period, when it will operate as a separate bank.
Eastern Bank Corp., based in Boston and founded in 1818, is the largest independent and mutually owned bank in New England with nearly $7 billion in assets and more than 80 branches in eastern Massachusetts.
Wainwright, founded in 1987, has $1 billion in assets and 12 branches in the Boston area. Wainwright positions itself as a socially progressive bank, and says it has committed more than $800 million in loans to development projects geared to such causes as affordable housing, environmental protection and homeless shelters.
Once the acquisition closes, Robert Glassman and John Plukas, co-founders and co-chairmen of Wainwright, are expected to join Eastern’s board, as well as the board of the holding company’s Eastern Bank unit. Jan Miller, president and CEO of Wainwright, will become president of the holding company and executive vice president of the bank unit.
