The old year ended with a new beginning for Long Island’s banking sector, as a major regional bank announced it is acquiring a Nassau-based financial institution.
Flushing Financial, parent of Flushing Savings Bank, said it reached a deal valued at more than half a billion dollars to merge with OceanFirst Financial, parent of Ocean First Bank, creating a financial institution with $23 billion in assets.
Uniondale-based Flushing will become part of Red Bank, N.J.-based OceanFirst, the sole remaining brand, in the deal between two more-than-a-century-old banks valued at $579 million based on OceanFirst’s $19.76 closing stock price on Dec. 26, 2025.
The merged bank will have about $17 billion in loans, $18 billion in deposits and 71 branches and make OceanFirst a significant part of the Nassau and Suffolk markets.
The transaction, subject to regulatory approvals and the approval by OceanFirst and Flushing shareholders, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026. Flushing stockholders will be entitled to 0.85 shares of OceanFirst stock for each share of Flushing stock.
OceanFirst Bank, founded in 1902, is a $14.3 billion regional bank serving customers throughout New Jersey and the major metropolitan areas between Massachusetts and Virginia.
Flushing Financial, founded in 1929, operates branches on Long Island and in Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.
OceanFirst said the combination would expand its “organic growth in New York” by expanding its presence “within the highly attractive, deposit-rich markets of Suffolk, Nassau, Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.”
OceanFirst CEO and Chairman Christopher Maher, who will become CEO of the combined company, said the deal will unite “two highly complementary organizations.”
“We share a disciplined credit philosophy and long-term commitment to the communities we serve,” Maher said in a written statement.
Flushing CEO and President John Buran, who will become nonexecutive chairman of the 17-member Board, said the merger will create “a scaled, more profitable franchise.
“This transaction creates meaningful opportunities for our clients, employees, and communities,” Buran said, “while preserving the relationship-focused culture that has defined our bank for nearly a century.”
OceanFirst said that affiliates of funds managed by Warburg Pincus plan to invest $225 million through newly issued equity securities, contingent upon the deal closing.
OceanFirst shareholders would own approximately 58% of the combined company, while Flushing stockholders would own approximately 30%, and the Warburg Pincus transaction would account for approximately 12% of the shares.
The new board will include 10 members from OceanFirst’s Board, six from Flushing’s and Warburg Pincus Managing Director Todd Schell.
Warburg Pincus has more than $85 billion in assets under management and more than 215 companies in their portfolio.
The firm has invested in more than 1,000 companies, including a nearly 30-year history of investing in the banking sector, including $4.5 billion in 23 banks, such as Dime Bancorp, Sterling Financial, Webster Financial, Mellon Bank, Banc of California, EverBank, and National Penn Bancshares.