EverBank and WaFd Combine in $3.9 Billion Reverse Merger to Form $75 Billion Regional Bank

EverBank Financial Corp and WaFd, Inc. struck a $3.9 billion reverse merger deal on Sept. 7, a transaction that hands EverBank shareholders a majority stake in a publicly traded vehicle they don't currently have, while giving WaFd investors a 29% earnings-per-share lift the companies say will arrive in 2027.

The structure is worth slowing down on. In a reverse merger, the smaller or unlisted entity effectively absorbs a listed one to gain a stock exchange footprint without a traditional IPO. Here, EverBank, Florida-based and privately held, merges into WaFd, a Nasdaq-listed Pacific Northwest commercial bank. WaFd's corporate shell survives, but it renames itself EverBank Financial Corp and trades under a new ticker, EVBK, according to a joint statement reviewed by Reuters and a press release filed with PRNewswire.

The ownership split favors EverBank. Upon close, EverBank investors will hold roughly 59.2% of the pro-forma combined company, with WaFd shareholders keeping the remaining 40.8%, as reported by Reuters. The deal is structured as a stock-for-stock exchange: existing EverBank shareholders receive WaFd common stock in return for their EverBank shares.

The combined balance sheet reaches approximately $75 billion in assets, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited a statement from the companies. That size puts the merged bank comfortably in regional territory, though well below the $1 trillion-plus threshold that separates regionals from the money-center names.

The companies are projecting a return on tangible common equity of roughly 15% after full realization of expected cost synergies, according to the joint PRNewswire release. The 29% EPS accretion figure for WaFd shareholders in 2027 is the headline number management is selling, alongside a tangible book value earn-back period of under two years. Both metrics are management projections, not audited results, and they depend on the deal closing on schedule and synergies landing as modeled.

Closing is targeted for early 2027, subject to regulatory approval and a WaFd shareholder vote. The company said it will file a proxy statement for the vote with the SEC. WaFd's 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025 is the relevant baseline disclosure for investors assessing the pre-deal standalone.

The combined network is expected to include more than 250 financial centers, according to a statement from the companies, with a deposit base the banks describe as diversified. Neither company disclosed the specific dollar volume of anticipated cost cuts, which is the figure analysts will want before the proxy is filed.

The deal arrives as regional bank consolidation has reaccelerated. Mega-deals account for a disproportionate share of total U.S. M&A value in 2026, with large transactions making up more than 40% of aggregate deal value even as overall volume has stayed flat, according to Deloitte's 2026 M&A Trends Pulse Survey. Smaller and mid-market combinations like the EverBank-WaFd tie-up are the quieter layer underneath that headline figure.

The transaction's tax treatment is a selling point for both shareholder bases: the companies stated it is structured to be tax-free for both EverBank and WaFd common shareholders. Whether regulators wave it through cleanly or impose conditions, particularly around deposit concentration or community reinvestment commitments, will determine whether that 2027 EPS accretion number is still on the table when the ink dries.

Sources cited:
- Reuters / CNBC (https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/08/everbank-to-combine-with-wafd-in-3point9-billion-reverse-merger-.html)
- PRNewswire / Yahoo Finance (https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/wafd-inc-enters-3-9-210000385.html)
- WaFd Bank Press Release (PDF) (https://www.wafdbank.com/documents/financial-news/2026/wafd-bank-press-release-20260907.pdf)
- Deloitte 2026 M&A Trends Pulse Survey (https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/what-we-do/capabilities/mergers-acquisitions/articles/m-a-trends-report.html)
- EverBank News Release (https://www.everbank.com/about/news/09-07-26/everbank-wafd-announce-strategic-merger)