Atlantic Union completes $1.3B Sandy Spring purchase

Atlantic Union Bankshares has completed its $1.3 billion acquisition of Sandy Spring Bancorp, according to a Tuesday announcement by the parent company of Atlantic Union Bank.

Each share of Sandy Spring common stock was converted into the right to receive 0.9 shares of Atlantic Union common stock, with cash paid in lieu of fractional shares. The closing price of Atlantic Union common stock on Monday was $31.14, so the aggregate transaction value was about $1.3 billion.

“By bringing together the No. 1 regional bank in Virginia and the No. 1 regional bank in Maryland, we’ve created something that’s never existed before and establishes Atlantic Union as the preeminent regional bank, with Virginia as its linchpin, that spans the lower mid-Atlantic into the Southeast,” Atlantic Union President and CEO John C. Asbury said in a statement.

Before merger-related adjustments, the new combined Atlantic Union has $38.7 billion in total assets, $32.1 billion in total deposits and $30 billion in total loans held for investment.

As of Dec. 31, 2024, Sandy Spring Bank had more than 50 locations across Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., and Atlantic Union Bank had 129 branches across Virginia and parts of Maryland and North Carolina.

Shareholders of Atlantic Union Bankshares and stockholders of Sandy Spring Bancorp approved the merger, which was announced in October 2024, in separate special meetings in February.

Mona Abutaleb Stephenson and Mark C. Micklem, members of the Sandy Spring board,  and Daniel J. Schrider, president and CEO of Sandy Spring, have been appointed to the boards of Atlantic Union and Atlanta Union Bank.