A Winter Haven bank that has been rapidly acquiring other institutions in Florida plans to buy Sarasota-based Gateway Bank of Southwest Florida. The acquisition, expected to close in approximately four months, is part of a $142.5 million deal negotiated with Gateway leaders in multiple markets and publicly revealed in a transaction alert on Wednesday.

“We thought the timing was perfect,” said Shaun Merriman, president and CEO of Gateway Bank. Merriman, who founded Gateway in 2007, will remain the market CEO for the local branches for at least four years as part of the deal. 

The deal involves all of Gateway Financial Holdings, which includes the Gateway Bank of Southwest Florida (which has two Sarasota locations and one Bradenton location), as well as independent banking companies in the Daytona Beach and Ocala markets. Merriman said Gateway has long maintained a relationship with CenterState, turning to the Winter Haven institution for many services the smaller bank could not do in-house.

CenterState operates 66 full service banking centers throughout Florida. In October, the company announced plans to acquire Platinum Bank. Should mergers be approved with both Platinum and Gateway Financial Holdings, the total assets of the bank will grow from $5 billion to $6.5 billion. 

A definitive merger agreement has already been approved by the boards for CenterState and Gateway, but since CenterState is a publicly traded company, any merger must be approved by the Office of the Comptroller, and Gateway shareholders will also need to approve a deal. Closing is anticipated around April 1.

Merriman spoke with pride about Gateway’s decade in the market, noting assets were grown to more than $880 million without any acquisitions. Much of that could be attributed to timing, Merriman said, as the bank opened at a time it could operate in the aftermath of the recession rather than taking a blow from that economic downturn, and that the bank was able to grow organically in the years afterward.