Blue Ridge Bank, FVCbank merger delayed

The merger of Charlottesville-based Blue Ridge Bankshares Inc., the parent company of Blue Ridge Bank, and Fairfax-based FVC Bankcorp Inc., the parent company of FVCbank, will be delayed, the companies announced this week.

The two regional companies announced the merger, which would create a $5 billion combined company, on July 14. The expected closing at the time was early 2022.

Following the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s identification of regulatory concerns, the financial institutions now expect the merger to close in the second or third quarter of 2022, Blue Ridge President and CEO Brian K. Plum said in a statement.

“We strongly believe that this transformational partnership remains strategically and financially attractive,” FVCB Chairman and CEO David W. Pijor said in a statement. “For all of the reasons that we’ve discussed previously, this is a highly compelling transaction for both companies, and we are committed to seeing it through to completion. We also know how committed Blue Ridge Bank’s management team is to resolving any concerns raised by its regulators.”

Blue Ridge has started an initiative to address the OCC’s concerns but did not provide the specific concerns.

“While we have additional work to do, we believe the OCC’s concerns are ones that we can solve in a timely fashion, and do not materially impact the strategic rationale of the Merger,” Plum said in a statement.

In February, Blue Ridge completed its merger with Richmond-based Bay Banks of Virginia Inc., the parent holding company of Virginia Commonwealth Bank, creating a bank with $2.8 billion in assets.

Founded in 1893, Blue Ridge Bank has 26 locations, including one in Greensboro, North Carolina. As of July 30, the bank had $2.76 million in assets.

FVCbank began operating in November 2007. The company has $2 billion in assets and is a Virginia-chartered community bank with 10 full-service offices in Arlington, Fairfax, Manassas, Reston and Springfield, as well as in Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Rockville, Maryland.