WSFS Financial to buy Christiana Bank & Trust for $34.5 million

WSFS Financial Corp., of Wilmington, agreed to buy Christiana Bank & Trust Co. for $34.5 million in cash from local rival National Penn Banshares Inc.

National Penn, of Boyertown, Pa., paid $55.9 million for Christiana in 2008. "Times have changed," WSFS chief financial officer Stephen A. Fowle said Thursday.

The deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, includes $161 million in deposits, $115 million in performing loans, and $6 billion in trust assets under administration or management at Christiana, of Greenville, Del.

WSFS is not assuming about $4 million in problem loans and real estate owned by the bank, Fowle said.

Adding Christiana's trust business, which has about $6.5 million in annual revenue, according to National Penn, is key for WSFS, the bank's chief financial officer, Fowle said. "Christiana is more than a decade ahead of where we are now," he said.

WSFS has 40 branches and $3.8 billion in assets.

National Penn said it would record an $8 million goodwill impairment for the trust business, but that the deal, which still needs regulatory approvals, would boost key measures of financial health.