Fulton Financial Corp. – the parent of Fulton Bank, which has 27 branches in Maryland – and Prudential Bancorp have entered a merger agreement under which Prudential will merge with and its operations and branches will morph into Fulton Financial. The stock and cash deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022, after the satisfaction of necessary closing conditions.

With assets worth $26 billion, Lancaster, Pa.-based Fulton provides financial services through 200 financial centers in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia. Prudential is the holding company of Prudential Bank, a Pennsylvania-chartered savings bank with assets of $1.1 billion.

The acquisition of Prudential is expected to accelerate Fulton Financial’s Philadelphia and urban market strategies. The deal will also provide a strategically important market for the institution’s organic growth and expansion.

Based on the 10-day volume-weighted average share price of Fulton Financial’s common stock on Mar 1, the deal is valued at $142.1 million or $18.01 per Prudential’s common stock. Nearly 80 percent of the total consideration will be paid through Fulton Financial’s common stock and the remaining 20 percent will be paid in cash.

During the past six months, shares of Fulton Financial have rallied 13.8 percent, outperforming the 11.4 percent growth of the industry.

“I have shared with investors Fulton’s desire to be more active in mergers and acquisitions of companies that are a good fit for us – strategically, culturally and geographically. We look forward to working with the Prudential team to bring our mutual community-oriented style of banking, our comprehensive range of products and services, and our talented teams together to help even more,” said Philip Wenger, the chairman, president and CEO of Fulton Financial.