On September 20, 2018, Blue Hills Bancorp, Inc. (“Blue Hills”), Norwood, Massachusetts, the holding company for Blue Hills Bank, and Independent Bank Corp. (“Independent”), Rockland, Massachusetts, the holding company for Rockland Trust Company, announced a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which Blue Hills will merge with and into Independent, with Independent as the resulting company. Blue Hills stockholders generally will receive $5.25 in cash and 0.2308 shares of Independent common stock per share of Blue Hills common stock, which represents approximately 20% cash and 80% stock. The total merger consideration is approximately $726.5 million.

Luse Gorman served as legal counsel to Blue Hills in the transaction. The Luse Gorman team consisted of Lawrence M.F. Spaccasi, John J. Gorman, Michael J. Brown and Zachary Davis (Corporate/M&A), and Beverly J. White and Brendan Saxon (Executive Compensation/M&A).

Blue Hills has approximately $2.7 billion in total assets and operates 11 retail branch offices in Boston, Dedham, Hyde Park, Milton, Nantucket, Norwood, West Roxbury, and Westwood, Massachusetts and three branches in Nantucket, Massachusetts operating under the name, Nantucket Bank, a division of Blue Hills Bank.

Independent has approximately $8.4 billion in total assets and operates approximately 100 retail branches, commercial and residential lending centers, and investment management offices in eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.