Patriot National, American Challenger call off merger

American Challenger Development is again looking to sell itself after a plan to merge with Patriot National Bancorp in Stamford, Conn., was called off. 

The $976 million-asset Patriot National agreed in November to buy American Challenger for $119 million in a deal structured as a reverse subsidiary merger. Patriot had also entered into agreements to sell securities to certain investors to raise at least $875 million of capital. 

The termination was approved “after careful consideration and in light of the parties’ expected inability to satisfy certain of the closing conditions to the merger and recapitalization.” 

No termination fees will be paid.

American Challenger, which has a digital bank technology and operations platform under the Cache brand, said in a press release Thursday that it has hired Citi as its effort to find another buyer. 

American Challenger received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in December 2020 to form a de novo national bank. Patriot Bank received conditional OCC approval on June 30 to implement American Challenger’s business plan.