RICHMOND, Va., Dec. 13, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bank of Virginia (Nasdaq:BOVA) announced today that Cordia Bancorp Inc. completed its acquisition of a majority interest in Bank of Virginia on Friday, December 10, 2010. Cordia purchased 6,776,316 shares at a price of $1.52 per share for a total investment of $10,300,000. The investment results in Cordia owning approximately 59.8% of the outstanding shares of Bank of Virginia. Under the terms of Cordia's agreement with Bank of Virginia, Cordia may invest up to an additional $9,700,000 at the same price per share by September 30, 2011.
The Bank of Virginia board of directors elected Jack C. Zoeller, age 61, as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Zoeller, Co-Founder and CEO of Cordia Bancorp, has 30 years' experience in start-up and turn-around companies in the banking, financial services and risk management industries. During the last major U.S. banking crisis, he served as turnaround CEO of ComFed Bancorp, a troubled $1.8 billion asset-size bank holding company in Massachusetts. In that capacity, he was reported to have been the first bank president asked by the RTC to remain in place during a bank's conservatorship. From 2006 to 2008 he served on the board and executive committee of TransCommunity Financial Corp., a Virginia bank holding company that merged with Bank of Essex Financial Corp. and Community Bankers Acquisition Corp. In early 2009, he resigned from the merged company, Community Bankers Trust Corp., to co-found Cordia Bancorp and pursue an alternative mid-Atlantic banking strategy.
Mr. Zoeller began his career at E.F. Hutton in New York, where he built the first financial guarantee insurance business on Wall Street. He later founded and served as CEO of Capital Risk Management and AtlantiCare Risk Management and served three years as CEO of New England's largest volume residential mortgage lender. He also served as founder and CEO of North American Health & Life Insurance Co. Ltd. In 2010 he was appointed by the Secretary of Defense to the Defense Business Board at the Pentagon. Mr. Zoeller is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and holds advanced degrees from the Harvard Kennedy School and Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. As a U.S. Army Ranger, he served as an infantry company commander in the 82nd Airborne Division.
Five other principals of Cordia were elected to the Bank of Virginia's board of directors, including Cordia's founding Chairman, Peter W. Grieve; Bruce B. Nolte, former CEO of TransCommunity Financial Corp. and TransCommunity Bank of Glen Allen, VA; Raymond H. Smith, Jr., CEO of Smith Brown & Groover Securities of Macon, GA; Christopher G. Miller, former director and audit committee chairman of TransCommunity Financial Corp.; and John P. Wright, former bank analyst at Keefe, Bruyette and Woods. Mr. Zoeller was elected Chairman of the Bank Board.
The Board also elected Henry ("Hank") Richeson, founding CEO of Bank of Virginia, to be Vice Chairman of the Bank Board.
As previously disclosed, the purchase price for Cordia's investment was subject to adjustment based on the book value of Bank of Virginia. As of November 30, 2010, Bank of Virginia identified a need for a $2.4 million increase in its provision for loan losses. The effect was a reduction in the Bank's book value and a proportionate reduction in the price per share of the Cordia investment.
Jack Zoeller stated: "As a result of the additional capital invested in Bank of Virginia, we have a unique opportunity to resume the bank's growth into one of the top community bank franchises in Central Virginia. It is a privilege for me and my colleagues to join the Bank's highly experienced board of directors and to have an opportunity to work with Vice Chairman Hank Richeson, President Frank Bell and the Bank's truly talented staff. "
Hank Richeson added: "When we started Bank of Virginia back in 2004, our goal was to forge something unique in Virginia community banking. We feel quite comfortable that Jack Zoeller, Bruce Nolte and the other founders of Cordia share this vision. Working together, we hope to become a real force in the future of community banking in the Old Dominion."
About Bank of Virginia
Bank of Virginia operates five full-service branch offices in Chesterfield County and Henrico County in Virginia. Bank of Virginia common stock is traded on the NASDAQ stock market under the quotation symbol "BOVA". Additional investor relation information can be found on the internet at .
DISCLAIMER
This news release may include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may differ materially. These risks include: changes in business or other market conditions; the timely development, production and acceptance of new products and services; the challenge of managing asset/liability levels; the management of credit risk and interest rate risk; the difficulty of keeping expense growth at modest levels while increasing revenues; and other risks detailed from time to time in the Bank's periodic filings with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, including the Bank's annual report on Form 10-K as filed with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. Pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the Bank does not undertake to update forward-looking statements contained within this news release.
CONTACT: Bank of Virginia Jack Zoeller, Chief Executive Officer 804-763-1333