By better than an 8-1 margin, shareholders of the financially troubled Green Bank voted Wednesday to sell their stock and merge one of East Tennessee's biggest banks into a North Carolina bank organized by former Bank of America executives.
North American Financial Holdings NAFH Inc., paid $217 million to acquire 90 percent control of the Greeneville, Tenn.-based bank, which has been operating under a consent order after losing money for the past two years.
Green had 65 branches in East and Middle Tennessee, including two offices in Athens, Tenn.
Under the merger agreement, an NAFH subsidiary, Capital Bank, will take control of the former Green Bank and Stephen Rownd, formerly Green Bank president, will become Tennessee market president for Capital Bank.