Pending Merger and Acquisition

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2014

Business Combinations [Abstract]

Pending Merger and Acquisition

NOTE 2 – PENDING MERGER AND ACQUISITION

On March 10, 2014, the Company entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with Coastal Bankshares, Inc. (“Coastal”), a bank holding company headquartered in Savannah, Georgia. The Coastal Bank is a wholly owned banking subsidiary of Coastal that has a total of six banking locations in Chatham, Liberty and Effingham Counties, Georgia. As of December 31, 2013, Coastal reported assets of $433 million, loans of $295 million and deposits of $364 million. Under the terms of the Merger Agreement, Coastal will merge with and into Ameris, with Ameris as the surviving entity in the merger. In addition, The Coastal Bank will be merged with and into the Bank, with the Bank as the surviving entity.

Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, Coastal shareholders will receive 0.4671 shares of the Company’s common stock in exchange for each share of Coastal common stock they hold. Based on the closing price of the Company’s common stock on February 28, 2014, the transaction would be valued at approximately $37.3 million, which represents 169% of Coastal’s tangible book value as of December 31, 2013. The purchase price will be allocated among the assets of Coastal acquired as appropriate, with the remaining balance being reported as goodwill.

Consummation of the merger is subject to customary conditions, including, among others, approval of the Merger Agreement by Coastal’s shareholders and the receipt of required regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2014.