Park Sterling Corp, the parent company of Park Sterling Bank of Charlotte has now announced that they have deal with Citizens South Bank and that they will acquire the Gastonia based bank in cash and stock. The company said that the total amount of the deal will be around $77.8 million and that the company will provide and disclose more information in the future about the deal. The merger has been approved by board of directors on both sides and the deal will be closed by the end of fourth quarter of 2012.

This deal will bring together two biggest lending companies in Charlotte and the total that they generate will be $2.2 billion in the community bank franchise in Charlotte. Park Sterling Corp announced that after the deal they will have 40 new retail branches in the Carolinas and northeast Georgia. The company said that they will continue their business in the commercial lending, mortgage and wealth management sector like they did before because that is the core business of both the companies. Sharing more information about the deal, Jim Cherry, CEO of Park Sterling Corp said that they believe that this deal will help them grow stronger in the market and allow the company to be the largest community banking franchise in the Charlotte-Gastonia region.