CONWAY, Ark., Oct. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Home BancShares, Inc. HOMB (“Home”), the parent company of Centennial Bank (“Centennial”), today announced the settlement of a lawsuit previously initiated by Centennial against ServisFirst Bank (“ServisFirst”) and four former Centennial employees, Gregory W. Bryant, Patrick Murrin , known , Gwynn Davey and Jonathan Zunz arising from events following Home and Centennial’s 2015 acquisition of Bay Cities Bank (“Bay Cities”), formerly based in Tampa, Florida. Under the non-confidential terms of the settlement, Centennial will receive $15,000,000 in consideration for the release of ServisFirst and those former employees and the parties unconditionally dismissing the lawsuit. Although the essential terms have been agreed upon by the parties, definitive documents are being circulated at the time of this publication. Payment is expected shortly and dismissal of the lawsuit will follow promptly.

The lawsuit, originally filed by Centennial in 2016 and pending in the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida, included multiple causes of action against ServisFirst and the former employees, including claims of violation of certain non-compete obligations related to the departure of former employees ServisFirst shortly after Centennial’s acquisition of Bay Cities. Prior to the settlement, the court recently issued a summary judgment in favor of Centennial for its breach of fiduciary lawsuit against Mr. Bryant, and the recent orders had paved the way for additional lawsuits to advance to a jury trial of the defendants.

“In all of Centennial’s years of operation, we have never filed a lawsuit, other than routine credit enforcement actions,” said Chairman John W. Allison. “However, we are committed to protecting the interests of our company and our shareholders when those interests are being undermined.”

“We believe this settlement payment reflects the seriousness …