WASHINGTON—Covington advised the Renasant Corporation in its announced acquisition of The First Bancshares, Inc. in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $1.2 billion, based on Renasant’s closing stock price as of July 26, 2024.
In addition, Covington represented Renasant in its concurrently announced equity offering of $230 million. Renasant sold an aggregate of 7,187,500 shares of its common stock, including a full exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase additional shares, at a price to the public of $32.00 per share, for gross proceeds of $230 million.
According to the terms of the merger agreement, shareholders of The First Bancshares will receive 1.00 share of Renasant common stock for each share of The First Bancshares common stock. Additionally, all options of The First Bancshares will be cashed out at their in-the-money value at closing. Based on Renasant’s closing stock price of $37.09 per share as of July 26, 2024, the implied transaction value is approximately $37.09 per The First Bancshares share, or $1.2 billion, in the aggregate.
Renasant is the parent of Renasant Bank, a 120-year-old financial services institution. Renasant has assets of approximately $17.5 billion and operates 185 banking, lending, mortgage, and wealth management offices in Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
The First Bancshares, headquartered in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is the parent company of The First Bank. Founded in 1996, the First Bancshares has operations in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.
The Covington team included Rusty Conner, Michael Reed, Charlotte May, Charlie Dobb, Sebastian Marotta, Michelle Choi, Suzie Park, and Jessica Greco (corporate), Jenna Wallace and Zachary Agudelo (employee benefits), Randy Benjenk and Emily Hooker (bank regulatory), and Kurt Baca, Jamin Koo, and Sumaya Bouadi (tax).
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