First Market Bank nears merger

Union Bankshares Corp. is one step away from merging with Richmond-based First Market Bank and creating the largest bank based in Virginia.

The Bowling Green-based holding company said yesterday that it has received shareholder approval for its acquisition of the private chain of banks mostly owned by the Ukrop family and Ukrop's Super Markets Inc.

"The only thing we are waiting on is approval from the Federal Reserve Bank," G. William Beale, Union's president and chief executive officer, said yesterday.

He said he expects approval sometime in November and hopes to close the merger, an all-stock deal valued at $105 million, in the first part of December after a mandatory waiting period.

The bank also unveiled its logo for the combined bank, which will be Union First Market Bank. The holding company, which will move to Richmond, will be Union First Market Bankshares Corp.

Beale will remain CEO of the holding company. David J. Fairchild, CEO of First Market, will be the president of the holding company.

The conversion and rollout of the logo to the bank's 94 branches, including 38 First Market branches, is targeted for February, Beale said.

While the headquarters will move into the building occupied by First Market near the Turning Basin in downtown Richmond, the operations center will remain in Union Bankshare's Carmel Church location.

"There have been some work-force reductions," Beale said, declining to be more specific.

The combined bank will employ about 900 people and have $4 billion in assets. It will be the fifth-largest bank by deposits in the Richmond area and the sixth-largest in Virginia, according to SNL Financial in Charlottesville.

The top four are out-of-state banks: Bank of America Corp. of Charlotte, N.C.; Wells Fargo & Co. of San Francisco, which purchased Wachovia; BB&T Corp. of Winston-Salem, N.C.; and SunTrust Banks Inc. of Atlanta.

Contact Carol Hazard at (804) 775-8023 or .