* Offer at 64 pct premium to Comm's Friday close
* Deal to immediately add to adj EPS - F.N.B.
Aug 9 (Reuters) - Bank holding company F.N.B. Corp said it will buy Pennsylvania-based Comm Bancorp Inc for about $70 million in cash and stock to branch into eastern Pennsylvania.
F.N.B. will pay 3.4545 in shares and $10 in cash for each share of the parent of Community Bank and Trust Co, representing a premium of 64 percent to the stock's Friday close.
Under the transaction, F.N.B. will get $577 million in total deposits and $465 million in loans from 15 bank branches spread across five counties in northeastern Pennsylvania.
'The communities served by Comm Bancorp are very well positioned to benefit from the major demographic and commercial trends associated with the Marcellus Shale,' Chief Executive Stephen Gurgovits of F.N.B said.
F.N.B., which reported better-than-expected quarterly profit in July, said it expects the merger to immediately add to its earnings per share, excluding one-time costs.
The two companies expect to close the deal in the fourth quarter of 2010.
F.N.B. shares closed up more than 3 percent at $8.78 on the New York Stock Exchange, while those of Comm Bancorp ended up 7.5 percent at $25.80 Monday on Nasdaq.
(Reporting by Abhinav Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Vyas Mohan) Keywords: COMMBANCORP/FNB (abhinav.sharma@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S +1 646 223 8780; Outside U.S +91 080 4135 5800; Reuters messaging: abhinav.sharma.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
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