Beneficial buys St. Edmond's bank

Beneficial Mutual Bancorp Inc. is buying SE Financial Corp., which operates as St. Edmond's Federal Savings Bank, for $30.6 million in cash, the two Philadelphia banks said.

The deal, approved by the boards of both companies, valued SE Financial at $14.5 per share, more than three times its $4.15 value on the OTC Pink Sheets Monday.

St. Edmond's, founded in 1912, has $268.75 million in deposits and branches in Ardmore, Deptford, Drexel Hill, Roxborough, and South Philadelphia.

The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of next year. The purchase of St. Edmond's is Beneficial's first bank acquisition since buying FMS Financial Corp. in 2007, the year it went public.

Beneficial, with $4.6 billion in assets, is the biggest bank headquartered in Philadelphia. It's shares closed at $8.72, up 9 cents.    - Harold Brubaker