TUPELO, Miss., April 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- BancorpSouth, Inc.
(NYSE: BXS) announced today that BancorpSouth Insurance Services,
Inc. ("BXSI"), a subsidiary of BancorpSouth Bank, headquartered in
Tupelo, Mississippi, signed a
definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Lafayette, Louisiana-based Knox Insurance
Group, LLC ("Knox"). The transaction is expected to close
immediately. Financial terms of the pending transaction were
not disclosed.
"The Knox acquisition gives us an opportunity to meaningfully
expand our market share in Southwest
Louisiana," commented Dan
Rollins, CEO of BancorpSouth. "Knox has a strong track
record of revenue growth as well as a number of large commercial
relationships adding significant value to our current book of
business."
Knox was formed in 1972 and currently produces annual revenues
of approximately $3 million.
For the past 15 years, Knox operated under the leadership of
current owners/brokers Dwayne David
and Randall Bonaventure. Knox
will continue to operate under their leadership in its current
location at 2014 West Pinhook Road #610 in Lafayette. Knox
has a diverse client base including agricultural processing,
construction, energy, manufacturing, marine, medical, and
transportation. Product specialties include, but are not
limited to, workers compensation, business auto, property and
casualty, and general/umbrella liability.
Markham McKnight, President of
BXSI, added, "We are excited about the opportunity to add Dwayne,
Randall and their team to our existing agency platform. They
operate a very customer-focused model similar to that of our agency
and we are impressed by the book of business that they have been
able to build. We are able to equip them with new product and
service offerings benefiting both current and potential
customers."
David commented, "We are delighted to join forces with
BancorpSouth, an organization that has a tremendous amount of
respect in our industry. The additional products and services
that a company of this scale can provide will be an asset to both
Randall and myself, as producers, and to our customer base."
Bonaventure added, "I am thrilled about the possibilities that this
new relationship provides. I am confident that the additional
resources that will be at our disposal will even better position us
to build on the success that we have had and the momentum that we
have built over the last several years."
BXSI ranks as the nation's 33rd largest insurance
firm based on the latest rankings available for top insurance
brokerage firms in America by Business Insurance. BXSI
currently operates 29 offices, with over 500 associates serving
clients across the country.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this news release may not be
based on historical facts and are "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended. These forward-looking statements may be identified
by their reference to a future period or periods or by the use of
forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate," "believe,"
"estimate," "expect," "may," "might," "will," "would," "could" or
"intend." These forward-looking statements include, without
limitation, statements relating to closing the acquisition of Knox,
Knox's continued operations and the impact of the acquisition on
the Company's market presence.
We caution you not to place undue reliance on the
forward-looking statements contained in this news release in that
actual results could differ materially from those indicated in such
forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of
factors. These factors include, but are not limited to,
conditions in the financial markets and economic conditions
generally, the adequacy of the Company's provision and allowance
for credit losses to cover actual credit losses, the credit risk
associated with real estate construction, acquisition and
development loans, losses resulting from the significant amount of
the Company's other real estate owned, limitations on the Company's
ability to declare and pay dividends, the impact of legal or
administrative proceedings, the availability of capital on
favorable terms if and when needed, liquidity risk, governmental
regulation and supervision of the Company's operations, the
short-term and long-term impact of changes to banking capital
standards on the Company's regulatory capital and liquidity, the
impact of regulations on service charges on the Company's core
deposit accounts, the susceptibility of the Company's business to
local economic or environmental conditions, the soundness of other
financial institutions, changes in interest rates, the impact of
monetary policies and economic factors on the Company's ability to
attract deposits or make loans, volatility in capital and credit
markets, reputational risk, the impact of hurricanes or other
adverse weather events, any requirement that the Company write down
goodwill or other intangible assets, diversification in the types
of financial services the Company offers, the Company's ability to
adapt its products and services to evolving industry standards and
consumer preferences, competition with other financial services
companies, risks in connection with completed or potential
acquisitions, the Company's growth strategy, interruptions or
breaches in the Company's information system security, the failure
of certain third party vendors to perform, unfavorable ratings by
rating agencies, dilution caused by the Company's issuance of
additional shares of its common stock to raise capital or acquire
other banks, bank holding companies, financial holding companies
and insurance agencies, other factors generally understood to
affect the financial condition or results of financial services
companies and other factors detailed from time to time in the
Company's press releases and filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update
these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances
that occur after the date of this news release.
SOURCE BancorpSouth, Inc.