Item 1.02 Termination of a Material Definitive Agreement
As previously disclosed, on November 4, 2021, Partners Bancorp ("Partners")
entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the "Merger Agreement") with
OceanFirst Financial Corp. ("OceanFirst") and Coastal Merger Sub Corp. ("Merger
Sub"). Pursuant to the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the
Merger Agreement, (i) Merger Sub would merge with and into Partners, with
Partners as the surviving entity, and (ii) immediately thereafter, Partners
would merge with and into OceanFirst, with OceanFirst as the surviving entity.
On November 9, 2022, Partners and OceanFirst entered into a Mutual Termination
Agreement (the "Termination Agreement") pursuant to which, among other things,
the parties mutually agreed to terminate the Merger Agreement and transactions
contemplated thereby. Each party will bear its own costs and expenses in
connection with the terminated transaction, and neither party will pay a
termination fee in connection with the termination of the Merger Agreement. The
Termination Agreement also mutually releases the parties from any claims of
liability to one another relating to the Merger Agreement and the terminated
transaction.
The foregoing descriptions of the Merger Agreement and the Termination Agreement
do not purport to be complete and are qualified in their entirety by reference
to the full text of (i) the Merger Agreement, which was previously filed as
Exhibit 2.1 to Partners' Current Report on Form 8-K filed on November 4, 2021,
and (ii) the Termination Agreement, which is attached hereto as Exhibit 10.1 and
is incorporated by reference herein.
Item 7.01 Regulation FD Disclosure
On November 9, 2022, Partners and OceanFirst issued a joint press release
announcing the termination of the Merger Agreement. A copy of the press release
is furnished with this Current Report on Form 8-K as Exhibit 99.1 and is hereby
incorporated by reference.
The information in this Item 7.01 and Exhibit 99.1 is being furnished and shall
not be deemed "filed" for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that
section, nor shall it be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under
the Securities Act of 1933 or the Exchange Act, except as expressly set forth in
such filing.
Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits
(d) Exhibits.
Exhibit No. Description
10.1 Mutual Termination Agreement, dated as of November 9, 2022, by and
between OceanFirst Financial Corp. and Partners Bancorp
99.1 Joint Press Release, dated November 9, 2022.
104 Cover Page Interactive Data File (embedded within the Inline XBRL
document)
2
Cautionary Notes on Forward-Looking Statements
This communication contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of
the federal securities laws, including Section 27A of the Securities Act of
1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended. These forward-looking statements may include: implications arising from
the termination of the proposed merger; any statements of the plans and
objectives of management for future operations, products or services; any
statements of expectation or belief; any projections or plans related to certain
financial or operational metrics; and any statements of assumptions underlying
any of the foregoing. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by
words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "seek," "plan,"
"will," "would," "could," "may," "target," "outlook," "estimate," "forecast,"
"project" and other similar words and expressions or negatives of these words.
Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and
uncertainties, which change over time and are beyond our control.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Neither
OceanFirst nor Partners Bancorp assumes any duty or obligation (and does not
undertake) to update or supplement any forward-looking statements. Because
forward-looking statements are, by their nature, to different degrees, uncertain
and subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, actual results or
future events, circumstances or developments could differ, possibly materially,
from those that OceanFirst or Partners Bancorp anticipated in its
forward-looking statements, and future results and performance could differ
materially from historical performance. Factors that could cause or contribute
to such differences include, but are not limited to, those included under Item
1A "Risk Factors" in OceanFirst's Annual Report on Form 10-K, under Item 1A
"Risk Factors" in Partners Bancorp's Annual Report on Form 10-K and those
disclosed in OceanFirst's and Partners Bancorp's other periodic reports filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The list of factors presented here
is not, and should not be, considered a complete statement of all potential
risks and uncertainties. Unlisted factors may present significant additional
obstacles to the realization of forward-looking statements. For any
forward-looking statements made in this communication or in any documents,
OceanFirst or Partners Bancorp claim the protection of the safe harbor for
forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995.
3
© Edgar Online, source Glimpses