New Owner for Team Capital Bank

By Jack Tobias

Bethlehem Township-based Team Capital Bank, a relatively new financial institution that started in 2005, has been acquired by Provident Financial Services Inc., allowing New Jersey-based Provident to expand into Pennsylvania and add to its branch network in the Garden State.

Under the agreement—announced Friday on Team Capital's website—Provident will take over Team Capital's 12 locations. Three of those are in the Lehigh Valley:

—1901 Hamilton St., Allentown.

—4285 Tilghman St., South Whitehall.

—2151 Emrick Blvd., Bethlehem Township, the bank's main office.

Other Pennsylvania locations are in Doylestown and Newtown, both in Bucks County.

The remaining seven Team Capital branches are in New Jersey. The closest are in Phillipsburg, Clinton and Flemington. Other locations are in Somerville, Far Hills and West Orange.

Provident is paying a combination of stock and cash valued at $117.6 million for Team Capital, according to the announcement.

Team Capital's president is Robert Rupel, former president and CEO of Lafayette Ambassador Bank, another major banking player in the valley. Some well-known area names serve on its various boards.

Among those on the bank's overall board of directors is attorney Martin D. Cohen of the law firm of Cohen & Feeley, and Timothy Fallon, the CEO of WLVT-TV Channel 39, the valley's public television station.

Among those serving on the bank's Lehigh Valley board are:

Dr. Francisco Javier Cevallos, president of Kutztown University; attorney Joseph Fitzpatrick Jr. of the law firm of Fitzpatrick, Lentz & Bubba; Kim Snyder, president of Eastern Industries and Stabler Development Co., and Yasin Khan M.D., president of Lehigh Valley Pain Management and former general partner of Westfield Surgery Center, which was recently bought by Lehigh Valley Health Network.

“We believe Team Capital’s customers and stockholders will benefit greatly from this transaction," Rupel said in the agreement announcement. "Provident brings additional retail and business banking products, proven lending capabilities and a depth of capital that will enable the combined company to better compete in our marketplace.

"Our officers and employees look forward to joining the Provident team," Rupel said.

Christopher Martin, Provident's chairman, president and CEO, said of the agreement:

"We're very pleased with the acquisition of Team Capital Bank, a commercially oriented bank with solid asset quality. This merger will establish an important presence for Providcent in eastern Pennsylvania, and it nicely complements and strategically adds to our franchise in contiguous markets.

"This presents a great opportunity to add scale to Team Capital's commercial lending oeprations and for the retail bank to increase its market share," Martin said.

The agreement also says Provident will create Pennsylvania and New Jersey advisory boards consisting of certain members of Team Capital's regional advisory boards.

Also, Team Capital chairman John Pugliese will be added to Provident's board of directors in 2014.

Provident, whose history goes back to 1839, has its main office in Jersey City. It has 78 full-service branches in 11 New Jersey counties.