Nittany Financial Corp.
116 East College Avenue
State College, PA 16801
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
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December 19, 2002 David Z. Richards, Jr., President and CEO
(814) 238-5724
Samuel J. Malizia, Chairman of the Board
(814) 466-6625
NITTANY FINANCIAL CORP. ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT
TO ACQUIRE VANTAGE INVESTMENT ADVISORS, LLC
State College, Pennsylvania -- Nittany Financial Corp. (OTC Stock
Symbol: NTNY), parent holding company of Nittany Bank and Nittany Asset
Management, Inc., State College, Pennsylvania (the "Company"), announced that
the Company has signed an agreement to acquire Vantage Investment Advisors, LLC
("Vantage") for consideration consisting of cash, the assumption of Vantage debt
and 36,000 shares of the Company's stock. Vantage is a Registered Investment
Advisor headquartered in State College, Pennsylvania, which manages investment
assets in excess of $140 million for over 1,200 accounts, originated from nearly
500 Vantage clients. The company expects the transaction to be accretive to
earnings in 2003.
Samuel J. Malizia, Chairman of the Board of the Company, stated that
"In October 1998, Nittany Bank opened for business to provide State College a
hometown bank. During the past four years, the State College community has
welcomed Nittany Bank, as it has grown and prospered to four full-service
offices with over $180 million in assets. The addition of Vantage, along with
the Company's securities investment subsidiary, Nittany Asset Management, Inc.,
will provide State College area residents the opportunity to invest in a full
range of securities and asset management services with a local State College
company. It is our goal to bring the best investment services in the nation to
College Avenue."
The President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, David Z.
Richards, Jr., stated that "We are excited to have the President & CEO, Robert
R. Thomas, the Executive Vice President, Jill W. Stonebraker and the other
employees of Vantage join the Nittany Financial Corp. family. Vantage will be
moving its offices to the second floor of the Company's administrative office
building at 2541 College Avenue, near the Nittany Mall, in January 2003.
Vantage's asset management services will complement the financial and banking
services currently offered by the Company and its subsidiaries."
Robert R. Thomas, the majority owner of Vantage, who will continue as
the President and CEO of Vantage after the acquisitions, stated "Vantage will
continue to offer all of its services to its customers without any changes or
interruption in services. By becoming part of a larger financial holding
company, such as Nittany Financial Corp., we will have additional resources to
service our existing clients and contacts to expand our business operations. I
am excited about joining Nittany Financial Corp. as the Chief Executive Officer
of Vantage and a stockholder in Nittany Financial Corp."
Nittany Bank is the only FDIC-insured financial institution
headquartered and operated solely in State College and offers a wide variety of
consumer and commercial lending and deposit services, and four full service
personal banking offices located at 116 East College Avenue, 1276 North
Atherton, 129 Rolling Ridge Drive (Hills Plaza) and 2541 East College Avenue,
(near Nittany Mall) State College, Pennsylvania. Deposits at Nittany Bank are
insured up to the legal maximum amount by the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC). Nittany Asset Management, Inc. offers alternative investment
products and investment management services to customers. The Company's common
stock is traded in the OTC Electronic Bulletin Board under the symbol "NTNY".