BB&T acquires BankAtlantic

BB&T Corp. (symbol: BBT) agreed to acquire Fort Lauderdale-based BankAtlantic Bancorp (symbol: BBX) this week. BB&T will pay a premium of $301 million above BankAtlantic's net asset value to complete the deal.

In acquiring BankAtlantic, BB&T adds $2.1 billion in loans and $3.3 billion in deposits to its total holdings in Florida. Although this deal is centered around Florida's Southeast region, BB&T's continued growth in Florida is sure to impact the Gulf Coast, where the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based bank has 93 offices.

Of its 1,794 domestic offices, 271 BB&T branches are located in Florida. The BankAtlantic acquisition will add another 78 offices to that total. Only North Carolina has more BB&T branches.

As of Sept. 30, BB&T managed $168 billion in assets. Its stock price is down 5% in early Tuesday trading, down to $22.70 a share, giving the financial company a market capitalization slightly less than $16 billion.