NCF to Buy BancMortgage

National Commerce Financial, a bank holding company in Memphis, will acquire BancMortgage Financial Corp., Atlanta.BancMortgage is currently owned by Habersham Bancorp, Cornelia, Ga. Under the terms of the agreement, Robert Cannon and Anthony Watts, the co-vice chairmen of BancMortgage, will use their option to buy the company from Habersham and then sell it to NCF. The terms of the transactions were not disclosed. According to BancMortgage, it did $1.4 billion in loan volume in 2001. NCF said the deal will approximately double its originations business. After the deal is completed, NCF will continue its practice of selling all its production on a servicing-released basis. BancMortgage will retain its name in the Atlanta metro area. NCF is making a big push in the Atlanta market through its retail banking subsidiary National Bank of Commerce. The company entered the market in April on a de novo basis through branches in Kroger supermarkets and recently added 22 full-service branches from Wachovia.