Eastern Bankshares Inc (EBC)

[LordDarley]

Big news. After just one quarter, the dividend will be raised from 6 cents to 8 cents. That means we are doing well and can afford the much bigger news.

EBC will acquire Century Bank. Nasdaq: CNBKA. This is a well known bank in New England, run by the Sloane family since it was founded in 1969.

All cash deal with cash on hand: $642M. We are putting some of the $1.8B raised in the IPO to good use. It's a little pricey at 1.75 x tangible book, but a fair price. Eastern projects this to be 55% accretive to earnings on a fully synergized basis and to have an IRR of approximately 17%.

This might be one of the rare situations when an acquirer's stock goes up the next day, but whatever happens tomorrow, the future is very bright.