Camden National expanding to southern Maine

BANGOR – Camden National Corp. has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Acadia Trust and Gouws Capital Management Inc., the Camden-based holding company announced Monday.

The acquisitions will place Camden National in the southern Maine market, but the deals are not part of any plan to go head to head with some of the larger banking groups in the state, such as Peoples Heritage, KeyBank or Fleet Bank.

“We’re looking toward community banking routes,” said Gregory A. Dufour, senior vice president of finance for Camden National.

The “community” that will be served in these deals is high net-worth individuals. Both Acadia Trust and Gouws Management are based in Portland and offer either trust or investment advisory services to high net-worth individuals.

Acadia Trust, founded in 1991, has approximately $400 million in assets held under trust. Gouws Management, founded in 1984, has approximately $400 million under management.

“This has been a type of business that Camden wanted to get into,” Dufour said.

Although Camden National is a publicly traded company – symbol CAC on the American Stock Exchange – Dufour said the financial institution did not have to disclose how much it is spending to buy the two groups because it is a “private transaction.”

“It’s not a material transaction, so it doesn’t require a stockholder vote,” he said.

The boards of directors at all three companies unanimously approved the transactions. The deal is expected to close in 60 days.

In a statement, Robert W. Daigle, president and chief executive officer of Camden National, said the acquisitions will allow the company to diversify its noninterest income revenue base, “an increasingly important component of our earnings growth.”

Johann Gouws, chairman of both Acadia and Gouws Capital, will join the Camden National board of directors.

Camden National Corp. is a holding company that oversees Camden National Bank, UnitedKingfield Bank, which is based in Bangor, and Trust Company of Maine, which is based in Bangor.