Park Sterling completes purchase of Provident Community Bancshares

Park Sterling Corp., the largest regional bank based in Charlotte, said Thursday it has completed its purchase of 80-year-old Provident Community Bancshares of Rock Hill.

Under the deal's terms, Park Sterling will pay $1.4 million in cash to Provident shareholders, or roughly 78 cents a share.

The deal also calls for Park Sterling to pay the U.S. Treasury $5.1 million to redeem preferred stock stemming from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, known as TARP. The $5.1 million figure is a 45 percent discount from what the government was owed.

Park Sterling said the branches it has acquired from Provident are expected to continue doing business as Provident Community Bank until they are converted, a process expected to be finished by the third quarter.

Park Sterling, which reported $2 billion in assets in a first-quarter securities filing, said the merger boosted its assets to $2.3 billion. In the first quarter, the bank reported having 43 locations across the Carolinas and Georgia and a loan-production office in the Richmond, Va., region. On Thursday, it reported 54 locations in the same areas.