United Community Banks, Inc. (NasdaqGS:UCBI) entered into a non-binding letter of intent to acquire Reliant Bancorp, Inc. (NasdaqCM:RBNC) for approximately $520 million on June 11, 2021. United Community Banks, Inc. (NasdaqGS:UCBI) entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Reliant Bancorp, Inc. (NasdaqCM:RBNC) for approximately $520 million on July 14, 2021. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Reliant shareholders will receive 0.9842 shares of United common stock for each share of Reliant common stock outstanding. Following closing of the transaction, United is expected to own 84% and Reliant is expected to own 16% of the combined company. Reliant Bancorp is entitled to pay United Community a termination fee of $18,380,000. The transaction is subject to the regulatory approvals, Reliant Shareholders' approval, authorization for listing on the Nasdaq Stock Market of the shares of United Community Banks Common Stock to be issued in the Merger, tax opinion, the receipt of required regulatory approvals, including the approval of the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the South Carolina Board of Financial Institutions, and the Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions, effectiveness of the registration statement on Form S-4 for the Company Common Stock to be issued in the Merger, and other customary closing conditions. A special meeting of Reliant shareholders will be held on December 8, 2021 to among other things, approve the merger agreement. The transaction was unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of Reliant and United. Reliant's Board of Directors unanimously recommends that Reliant shareholders vote “FOR” the proposal to approve the merger agreement. As of December 8, 2021, Reliant's shareholders have approved the acquisition. The merger is expected to complete in the early first quarter of 2022. As of August 6, 2021, the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022. The merger is expected to be accretive to United's earnings per share, excluding transaction costs, by approximately $0.15 per share (6.1%) in 2022 and $0.22 per share (8.5%) in 2023. The transaction is also anticipated to be initial tangible book value dilutive of $0.70, or 3.7%.

Chuck Stubbs and Bill Herrell of D.A. Davidson & Co., Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Piper Sandler & Co. acted as financial advisors to United, and Ben Barnhill, Gary Brown, Neil Grayson, Lee Kiser and Mark Miller of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP served as United's legal advisors. Raymond James & Associates, Inc. and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC served as financial advisors to Reliant, and Adam G. Smith, David A. Bartz, Rikki Sapolich-Krol, Leann Walsh, Randy Clark, Tad J. Macfarlan, David Forney and Greg Parker of K&L Gates LLP served as Reliant's legal advisor. Evercore Group L.L.C. served as a financial advisor for Reliant. For services rendered in connection with the delivery of its opinion, Reliant paid Raymond James a fee of $1.0 million upon Raymond James' delivery of its opinion. Reliant will also pay Raymond James a customary fee for advisory services in connection with the merger equal to approximately $2.8 million (less 75% of the fee paid upon the delivery of the opinion), which fee is contingent upon the closing of the merger. The actual amount of the fee Reliant will pay Raymond James for its advisory services is subject to the final value of the merger consideration at closing, because the fee will be calculated as a percentage of the transaction value at closing. Reliant estimates that its financial advisors Evercore and Credit Suisse will be due an aggregate fee of approximately $2.5 million, which fee is contingent upon the closing of the merger. Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. acted as transfer agent to Reliant. Stuart Rogers of Alston & Bird LLP acted as counsel to financial advisor Credit Suisse.