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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 26, 2000
ALLEGIANT AGREES TO ACQUIRE EQUALITY
ST. LOUIS, July 26, 2000 - Allegiant Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALLE -
"Allegiant") and Equality Bancorp, Inc. (AMEX: EBI - "Equality") said
today they have signed a definitive agreement for the acquisition of
Equality by Allegiant.
Allegiant and Equality are both headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.
Allegiant has sixteen banking offices in the St. Louis, Missouri
Metropolitan area and Equality has seven locations plus three loan
production offices. The acquisition, which is subject to shareholder and
regulatory approval, is expected to close in the second half of this
year. Under the terms of the agreement, Allegiant will exchange a total
of approximately 2.7 million shares of its common stock for all of the
outstanding common stock of Equality. Each share of Equality is to be
exchanged for 1.118 shares of Allegiant.
The combined company will be the tenth largest banking institution in
the State of Missouri and the second largest publicly owned bank in St.
Louis. Allegiant reported total assets of $827 million at June 30, 2000
representing a 30% increase from one year earlier. Equality reported
assets of $329 million at June 30, 2000. Following the merger, Allegiant
Bank will have combined assets exceeding $1.1 billion, over $800 million
of both loans and deposits and total equity and reserves in excess of
$100 million. "The St. Louis market has been greatly affected by the
recent consolidation among financial institutions and Allegiant and
Equality have both been successful in increasing market share by
focusing on personal service. Allegiant and Equality, share the same
philosophy of being responsive to our customers and being active in the
St. Louis community," said Shaun Hayes, President and CEO of Allegiant.
Mr. Hayes continued, "We feel that Equality has excellent branches in
locations that will be a nice compliment to Allegiant's branches. There
will be 23 banking centers, with 14 locations in communities south of
Highway 40. One of our locations will be within 20 minutes of almost
anywhere in the St. Louis Missouri metropolitan area. Our locations
will be convenient to our customers and will efficiently service our
expanded base of core deposits."
"Equality was founded in 1884 and is the oldest savings bank chartered
in the State of Missouri. Our combined company will continue to offer
personal service to our loyal customers and we are excited that they
will have access to an expanded range of products and services. Our
combined company will offer a full range of products and services
including mortgage banking, brokerage services, insurance products,
trust services, on-line banking and cash management products in addition
to traditional retail and commercial loan and deposit products," said
Richard Fellhauer, Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of Equality.
"It was very important to us to select a partner that shares our strong
commitment to the St. Louis community. We feel our acquisition by
Allegiant will serve the best long-term
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interests of our people, our customers, our shareholders and the
communities we serve. We believe that the St. Louis community wants a
local bank with local ownership. Our customers want to be able to sit
down and talk with banking personnel that live and work in their
community. Both of our companies have always believed that local
managers and local owners make better decisions for our community,"
added Fellhauer.
Both companies have a strong retail banking focus. The combined company
will also benefit from the expertise of commercial bankers of Allegiant
and the successful mortgage banking operations of Equality. Both
companies have strong asset quality with nonperforming assets below
other financial institutions in their peer groups. The combined entity
ultimately will also benefit from significant economies of scale by
combining data processing, bookkeeping and operation areas as well as
benefiting from shared marketing and business development efforts. The
combined company will be able to reach more customers and will more
visible in the St. Louis community as evidenced by Allegiant recently
being named as the official bank of the World Champion St. Louis Rams.
When closed, the transaction is expected to be accretive to both
Allegiant's book value and earnings per share.
This news release contains forward-looking statements about Allegiant
and its proposed acquisition of Equality. These statements include
descriptions of (a) the anticipated closing date of the transaction and
(b) plans and objectives of Allegiant's management for future
operations, products and services of Equality following the transaction.
Forward-looking statements, by their nature, are subject to risks and
uncertainties. A number of factors--many of which are beyond Allegiant's
control--could cause actual conditions, events or results to differ
significantly from those described in the forward-looking statements.
Allegiant's reports filed with the SEC, including Allegiant's Form 10-Q
for the quarter ended March 31, 2000 and/or Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 1999, describe some of these factors, including certain
credit, market, operational, liquidity and interest rate risks
associated with Allegiant's business and operations. Other factors
described in these reports include changes in business and economic
conditions, competition, fiscal and monetary policies.
This news release may be deemed to be solicitation material in respect
of the proposed acquisition of Equality by Allegiant. Equality and its
directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the
solicitation of proxies in respect of the proposed transaction. In
connection with the proposed transaction, Allegiant will file a
registration statement on Form S-4 with the SEC. Shareholders of
Allegiant and Equality are encouraged to read the registration
statement, including the final proxy statement-prospectus that will be
part of the registration statement, because it will contain important
information about the proposed merger. After the registration statement
is filed with the SEC, it will be available for free, both on the SEC's
web site (www.sec.gov) and from Equality's and Allegiant's respective
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corporate secretaries.
