EverBank Buys WaFd in $3.9 Billion Reverse Merger to Build $75 Billion Regional Bank

EverBank Financial Corp and WaFd, Inc. announced a definitive merger agreement on Sept. 7 that the companies valued at $3.9 billion, combining a Florida-based lender with a smaller Pacific Northwest bank in a structure that flips the usual acquisition math.

The deal is a reverse merger: EverBank, the acquirer by economics, merges into WaFd, which survives as the public holding company. Upon closing, WaFd changes its name to EverBank Financial Corp and moves to the Nasdaq ticker EVBK, according to a joint press release reviewed by Reuters. The shell stays; the brand goes.

On the ownership split, the numbers are fairly blunt about who's in charge. Upon completion, EverBank investors will collectively own about 59.2% of the combined company, with WaFd shareholders holding the remaining 40.8%, as reported by CNBC. That's a majority control dressed up in merger-of-equals language.

Size-wise, the combined institution would hold roughly $75 billion in assets, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing the companies' joint statement. That puts the new EverBank in a regional bank tier that's drawn sustained investor attention since the 2023 regional banking stress, a cohort that's had to answer hard questions about deposit costs and commercial real estate exposure.

The companies' pitch to WaFd shareholders leans heavily on EPS accretion. The merger is projected to increase WaFd's 2027 earnings per share by roughly 29%, with an earn-back period for tangible book value dilution of under two years, per the companies' joint press release. Those are the numbers management wants traders to hold onto. Worth noting: they're management's numbers, not an independent analysis, and the deal hasn't cleared regulators yet.

On the bank structure, the holding company merger is only step one. Immediately after that closes, WaFd Bank, a Washington state-chartered commercial bank, merges into EverBank, N.A., which survives as the federally chartered bank supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, according to the joint press release reviewed by Yahoo Finance. The charter migration matters: national bank charters carry different regulatory relationships than state charters, and the OCC will be the primary federal supervisor going forward.

The transaction is expected to be tax-free for both sets of common shareholders, according to a statement from the companies. The companies project a return on tangible common equity of approximately 15% after full realization of cost synergies, per the press release. Cost synergies are a projection. Their magnitude and timeline weren't broken out in the public materials reviewed.

WaFd will host an investor conference call and file a proxy statement for a shareholder vote. The merger requires both regulatory approval and WaFd shareholder sign-off. The companies said closing is expected in early 2027.

The deal lands in a regional banking environment where scale has become a defensive posture as much as a growth story. Whether a combined $75 billion institution is large enough to matter, or just large enough to carry more concentration risk, is a question the proxy materials will have to address before WaFd shareholders vote.

Sources cited:
- Reuters / CNBC (https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/08/everbank-to-combine-with-wafd-in-3point9-billion-reverse-merger-.html)
- EverBank press release (https://www.everbank.com/about/news/09-07-26/everbank-wafd-announce-strategic-merger)
- WaFd press release (PRNewswire via 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)