FFBK Floridafirst Bancorp Inc. (MM)

SouthTrust Completes Acquisition of FloridaFirst BIRMINGHAM, Ala., May 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SouthTrust Corporation today completed the acquisition of FloridaFirst Bancorp, Inc., in Lakeland, Fla., and its subsidiary, FloridaFirst Bank. Wallace D. Malone Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of SouthTrust, made the announcement with Gregory C. Wilkes, chief executive officer of FloridaFirst. SouthTrust and FloridaFirst signed a definitive agreement to merge on Feb. 4, 2004. FloridaFirst operates 19 branches in Central Florida -- 10 in Lakeland, two in Winter Haven, four in Bradenton and one each in Sebring, Avon Park and Wildwood. The bank reported assets of $821 million as of Dec. 31, 2003. The deadline for FloridaFirst shareholders to elect to receive cash for their shares of FloridaFirst stock instead of shares of SouthTrust common stock has passed. All FloridaFirst shareholders who elected to receive cash instead of shares of SouthTrust common stock will receive a cash payment. All FloridaFirst shareholders who did not elect to receive cash for their shares will exchange their common shares for SouthTrust common stock. Shareholders will receive 0.8596 shares of SouthTrust common stock for each share of FloridaFirst common stock. "FloridaFirst strengthens what is already an outstanding franchise for SouthTrust in Central Florida. We welcome the professional, knowledgeable and friendly FloridaFirst staff as new members of the SouthTrust family," Malone said. "Our new customers will love the expanded menu of top-quality financial products that will be available to them, including the terrific service for which SouthTrust is widely known." "This merger with SouthTrust will benefit our customers in every aspect of their banking relationship. The array of products, services and technology provided by SouthTrust is among the best in the industry," Wilkes said. "We also strongly believe that SouthTrust's proven track record of producing increased earnings and increased dividends will provide our shareholders a solid return on their investment." SouthTrust will communicate directly to customers about any changes to accounts, products, services, bank hours and bank operations as the conversion process continues. The conversion is scheduled to be completed by late July. SouthTrust currently has 252 financial centers and 302 ATMs throughout Florida. In the Central Florida area near the FloridaFirst branches, SouthTrust has offices in Orlando, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Bradenton and Lakeland. SouthTrust Corporation (NASDAQ:SOTR) is a $52.7 billion regional bank holding company with headquarters in Birmingham, Ala. SouthTrust operates 712 banking and loan offices and 894 ATMs in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. The company offers a complete line of banking and other related financial services to commercial and retail customers. SouthTrust is a Forbes Platinum 400 company. The company is listed on the S&P 500 index and the Keefe, Bruyette & Woods BKX Index. The company's web site is http://www.southtrust.com/ . DATASOURCE: SouthTrust Corporation CONTACT: David Oliver, Corp. Communications, +1-205-254-5523, or Bill Prater, Investor Relations, +1-205-254-5187, both of SouthTrust; or Kerry Charlet, Chief Financial Officer of, FloridaFirst, +1-863-688-6811 Web site: http://www.southtrust.com/

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