Filed by OceanFirst Financial Corp.
Pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act of 1933,
as amended, and deemed filed pursuant to Rule 14a-12
under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
Subject Company: Sun Bancorp, Inc.
Commission File No.: 0-20957
| DATE: | June 30, 2017 | |
| TO: | OceanFirst Bank Employees | |
| FROM: | Christopher D. Maher | |
| RE: | Acquisition Announcement – Sun Bancorp Inc. | |
It is my pleasure to share the press release announcing unanimous approval by our Board of Directors to enter into a definitive agreement to acquire Sun Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:SNBC), which is the holding company of Sun National Bank (Sun).
Please take the opportunity to review the press release which was publicly distributed earlier today. The press release, and a corresponding presentation which is available in the Investor Relations section of our website, provide important details regarding the agreement.
I am proud with the way the OceanFirst team has integrated and welcomed staff and customers from the several acquisitions we have completed over the past few years. Of course, acknowledging that each opportunity is unique, I have summarized some general information about Sun along with a few high level points regarding the transaction.
| • | We’ll work hard to integrate Sun’s clients and employees into the OceanFirst family. These plans will take many months and our anticipated closing will likely occur sometime in the first quarter of 2018. |
| • | Please be sensitive to our new colleagues at Sun. It is important that they continue to run Sun in a professional, profitable, and compliant manner while we work to secure regulatory approval. They will be instrumental to the Bank as we complete the integration and grow the combined institution in the coming years. |
| • | While we will add two Directors from Sun to our Board, all other OceanFirst Directors will continue in place and I will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the combined company. Likewise, we will certainly add talent from Sun’s officer group, and OceanFirst’s executive officers will remain in their current roles. |
Realizing that there are many decisions still to be made, I ask for your patience as we continue to evaluate the specific details related to the integration timeline, overlapping branch locations, and ensure the delivery of extraordinary service that our OceanFirst team has repeatedly delivered with previous acquisitions.
Certainly we expect that you, as well as our customers, shareholders and members of the community will have questions regarding this announcement. Although all of the answers are not immediately available, I encourage you to bring these questions to your supervisor so they can address concerns and we can share timely responses.
We rely on every member of the OceanFirst team to deliver extraordinary service to our customers and assist fellow employees. Your commitment and contributions to the success of OceanFirst are appreciated, and with your efforts we can continue to create enhanced value for our shareholders.
Cautionary Notes on Forward-Looking Statements
This report 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: management plans relating to the proposed transaction; the expected timing of the completion of the proposed transaction; the ability to complete the proposed transaction; the ability to obtain any required regulatory, shareholder or other approvals; any statements of the plans and objectives of management for future operations, products or services, including the execution of integration plans relating to the proposed transaction and the recently completed acquisitions of Cape Bancorp, Inc. (“Cape”) and Ocean Shore Holding Co. (“Ocean Shore”) by OceanFirst; any statements of expectation or belief; projections related to certain financial 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”, “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 Sun Bancorp, Inc. (“Sun”) assumes any duty and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements. Because forward-looking statements are by their nature, to different degrees, uncertain and subject to assumptions, actual results or future events could differ, possibly materially, from those that OceanFirst or Sun anticipated in its forward-looking statements, and future results 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, those included under Item 1A “Risk Factors” in Sun’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, those disclosed in OceanFirst’s and Sun’s respective other periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), as well as the possibility that expected benefits of the proposed transaction and the Cape and Ocean Shore acquisitions may not materialize in the timeframe expected or at all, or may be more costly to achieve; that the proposed transaction may not be timely completed, if at all; that prior to the completion of the proposed transaction or thereafter, OceanFirst’s and Sun’s respective businesses may not perform as expected due to transaction-related uncertainty or other factors; that the parties are unable to successfully implement integration strategies related to the proposed transaction and the Cape and Ocean Shore acquisitions; that required regulatory, shareholder or other approvals are not obtained or other customary closing conditions are not satisfied in a timely manner or at all; reputational risks and the reaction of the companies’ shareholders, customers, employees and other constituents to the proposed transaction; and diversion of management time on merger-related matters. These risks, as well as other risks associated with the proposed transaction, will be more fully discussed in the joint proxy statement/prospectus that will be included in the registration statement on Form S-4 that will be filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed transaction. While the list of factors presented here is, and the list of factors to be presented in the registration statement on Form S-4 will be, considered representative, no such list should be considered to be 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 report or in any documents, OceanFirst and Sun claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Annualized, pro forma, projected and estimated numbers are used for illustrative purposes only, are not forecasts and may not reflect actual results.
Additional Information about the Proposed Transaction
This report is being made in respect of the proposed transaction involving OceanFirst and Sun. In connection with the proposed transaction, OceanFirst intends to file a registration statement on Form S-4 containing a joint proxy statement/prospectus and other documents regarding the proposed transaction with the SEC. Before making any voting or investment decision, the respective investors and shareholders of OceanFirst and Sun are urged to carefully read the entire joint proxy statement/prospectus when it becomes available and any other relevant documents filed by either company with the SEC, as well as any amendments or supplements to those documents, because they will contain important information about OceanFirst, Sun and the proposed transaction. Investors and security holders are also urged to carefully review and consider each of OceanFirst’s and Sun’s public filings with the SEC, including but not limited to their Annual Reports on Form 10-K, their proxy statements, their Current Reports on Form 8-K and their Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. When available, copies of the joint proxy statement/prospectus will be mailed to the respective shareholders of OceanFirst and Sun. When available, copies of the joint proxy statement/prospectus also may be obtained free of charge at the SEC’s web site at http://www.sec.gov, or by directing a request to OceanFirst Financial Corp., 975 Hooper Avenue, Toms River, New Jersey 08753, Attn: Christopher D. Maher.
Participants in the Solicitation
OceanFirst, Sun and certain of their respective directors and executive officers, under the SEC’s rules, may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies of OceanFirst’s and Sun’s shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction. Information about the directors and executive officers of OceanFirst and their ownership of OceanFirst common stock is set forth in the proxy statement for OceanFirst’s 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, as filed with the SEC on Schedule 14A on April 26, 2017. Information about the directors and executive officers of Sun and their ownership of Sun’s common stock is set forth in the proxy statement for Sun’s 2017 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, as filed with the SEC on Schedule 14A on May 30, 2017. Additional information regarding the interests of those participants and other persons who may be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies of OceanFirst’s and Sun’s shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction may be obtained by reading the joint proxy statement/prospectus regarding the proposed transaction when it becomes available. Once available, free copies of the joint proxy statement/prospectus may be obtained as described in the preceding paragraph.
No Offer or Solicitation
This communication is not intended to and shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote of approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offer of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.