Sarasota bank acquired in nearly $54 million deal

SARASOTA — Seacoast Banking Corp. of Florida announced Monday, Aug. 23 that it has acquired Sarasota-based Sabal Palm Bancorp Inc., parent company of Sabal Palm Bank, in a deal valued at $53.9 million.

With the acquisition, Sarasota-based Gulfside Bank,  founded in 2018, is now the only locally-based community bank in the Sarasota-Bradenton market. Sabal Palm was founded in 2006 and while it survived the 2008 recession, by 2012 it was having some capital issues.