FINANCIAL INDUSTRY Second Bancorp shareholders OK Sky merger

Officials say the deal will be transparent for Second National customers.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
WARREN -- Shareholders of Second Bancorp brought a merger with Sky Financial Group one step closer to reality by overwhelmingly approving the deal at a special meeting Tuesday.
The board of directors for Second Bancorp, parent of Second National Bank of Warren, announced 96 percent of its shareholders endorsed the deal, valued at about $280 million based on today's stock values. About 70 percent of the shares were represented in the vote.
Approval by the Federal Reserve is expected by May 25, said Chris Stanitz, secretary and general counsel for Second Bancorp, and the Ohio superintendent of banks must also approve before the merger becomes final.
Second Bancorp shareholders will exchange each of their shares for 1.26 shares of Sky stock, and the Second National Bank name will be gone. June 30 is the target date for completion of the merger and the stock exchange.
Consolidating branches
Tim Dirrim, a Sky spokesman, said 11 bank offices will be consolidated with the merger. Six Second National offices will close, with staff to be moved to a nearby Sky branch, and five Sky offices will close, with staff to move to a nearby Second National branch.
Dirrim could not provide locations for the branches to be consolidated. He said, however, that all Second National employees who work directly with customers in retail financial services have been guaranteed jobs.
Duplication in sales support, or back office positions, will result in some positions being eliminated, he said.
Sky first notified Warren city officials that 340 such positions would be gone, but that number has dropped to 220 as the company has moved employees targeted for layoff into other positions.
Second National said it had 630 employees when the deal was announced in January.
For customers
Stanitz said Sky Bank has assured officials at the Warren-based company that the switch should be "seamless" to Second National Bank customers.
He said terms, rules and regulations should be unchanged for checking and savings accounts, mortgages, home equity loans and other accounts customers have with Second National. Checks, payment books and other paperwork will eventually be replaced with new documents bearing the Sky Bank name.
"The change will be as transparent as humanly possible," he said. "There is virtually no action customers need to take."
Sky operates 260 financial centers in five states; Second National operates 33 branches and six loan offices in nine Ohio counties, including two offices in downtown Warren.
Sky has been growing rapidly through acquisitions, including First Western Bank of New Castle, which it bought in 1998, and Mahoning National Bank of Youngstown, acquired in 1999. In April the company completed the acquisition and merger of EOB Inc., a Canton insurance agency, into its Sky Insurance division, and it sold Sky Financial Solutions, a dental finance business, in the first quarter.
vinarsky@vindy.com