Community Bank and Trust adds dividend on Ocean merger

Community Bank and Trust shareholders will get a little extra this quarter, thanks to its planned merger into Ocean National Bank, a Portsmouth-based subsidiary of Chittenden Corp. in Vermont, the company announced on Wednesday.

The Wolfeboro-based bank said it will be paying a special dividend of 48 cents a share — set in the merger agreement — on top of a regular dividend of 36 cents a share. Both dividends, totaling 84 cents share, will be paid out on August 15 to stockholders of record on July 27.

Chittenden agreed to pay $124 million for CBT, or $33.37 share. Shareholders would get a quarter of that in cash and 75 percent in shares — some 1.1293 Chittenden shares for each CBT share. Stockholders still have to approve the deal, but if they don’t, they will have to pay $4 million termination fee, plus as much as $750,000 in expenses for the merger.

The company has yet to release more details in the proxy. After shareholder and regulatory approvals, the merger is expected to by the end of this year. — BOB SANDERS