Colony Bankcorp Inc (CBAN) · Nov 2, 2026 · Acquisition
$163M acquisition — ~$163M stock-and-cash transaction; target had $10.9M 2025 net income
Colony Bankcorp’s acquisition of First Reliance advances with audited financials showing a profitable $1.1 billion community bank and strong capital.
Colony is pursuing an acquisition-led expansion across the Southeast: after integrating TC Bancshares, it agreed to acquire First Reliance to build a roughly $5 billion-asset regional bank with a larger South Carolina presence. The merger had already received regulatory and shareholder approvals, so this filing is mainly the acquisition package and target financial disclosure rather than a surprise strategic pivot.
The target looks financially sound enough to support the deal thesis. First Reliance reported $1.09 billion of assets, $948.1 million of deposits, $779.9 million of loans and $10.9 million of 2025 net income. Loans grew 3.5% while net income rose 84%, helped by higher net interest income, mortgage banking income and a $2.3 million branch-sale gain. The earnings figure is not entirely recurring, but the filing still shows a profitable, growing bank rather than a distressed acquisition target. 〔0〕
| Figure | 2025 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets (Balance Sheet) | $1,093.4M | $1,067.1M |
| Loans, gross (Balance Sheet) | $779.9M (+3.5%) | $753.7M |
| Total deposits (Balance Sheet) | $948.1M | $951.4M |
| Net income (Income Statement) | $10.9M (+84.1%) | $5.9M |
| Total shareholders’ equity (Balance Sheet) | $93.1M (+19.7%) | $77.8M |
Capital and credit quality reduce the obvious integration risk. The target’s reported bank capital ratios were comfortably above the “well capitalized” thresholds, including 13.47% total capital and 12.42% CET1 in the regulatory-capital table. Credit indicators were also manageable: nonaccrual loans were $1.7 million, or roughly 0.2% of loans, while past-due loans totaled $2.8 million. That gives Colony a reasonably clean balance sheet to absorb, although the filing’s figures are for December 31, 2025 and therefore are not a current-quarter view.
The deal is meaningful, but the event itself is mostly execution rather than discovery. Colony had already disclosed the approximately $163 million stock-and-cash transaction, the expected $5 billion pro forma asset base and the fourth-quarter closing target. The new information is the audited detail confirming that First Reliance contributes a profitable $1.1 billion bank; it does not materially change the previously known acquisition strategy.
Bottom line: This advances Colony’s Southeast expansion with a healthy-looking target, but most of the strategic upside was already known. The filing modestly strengthens confidence in the asset being acquired; the next test is integration and whether the expected earnings benefits materialize.
Fourth-quarter merger closing and integration
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