Company: CCNE
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: S-4
Source: 0001193125-25-030821
Chunk: 174

Company: CNB FINANCIAL CORP/PA
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: S-4
Chunk 174
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 of Piper Sandler’s customers. Recommendation of the ESSA Board of Directors and ESSA’s Reasons for the Merger After careful consideration, the ESSA Board of Directors, at a special meeting held on January 9, 2025, unanimously (i) determined that the merger agreement and the transactions contemplated thereby, including the merger, are in the best interests of ESSA and its shareholders, (ii) declared the merger agreement advisable, and (iii) approved the execution and delivery of the merger agreement and the consummation of the transactions contemplated thereby, including the merger. Accordingly, the ESSA Board of Directors unanimously recommends that ESSA shareholders vote “ FOR” the ESSA merger proposal, “ FOR” the ESSA compensation proposal and “ FOR” the ESSA adjournment proposal. In reaching its decision to approve and adopt the merger agreement and the transactions contemplated thereby, including the merger, and to recommend that ESSA’s shareholders approve the merger proposal and compensation proposal, the ESSA Board of Directors evaluated the merger agreement, the merger and the other transactions contemplated by the merger agreement in consultation with ESSA’s management, as well as with ESSA’s legal and financial advisors, and considered a number of factors, including the following:

| • |     | each of ESSA’s and CNB’s business, operations, financial condition, geographic footprint, stock performance, asset quality, earnings and prospects, and legal and regulatory status; |

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| • |     | the historical performance of each of ESSA’s and CNB’s common stock; |

| • |     | the historical payment of dividends by each of ESSA and CNB; |

| • |     | the strategic fit of the business lines and the operating philosophies of the two institutions; |

| • |     | that the companies’ separate market areas, earnings and prospects create the opportunity for the combined company to leverage complementary revenue streams and cost savings and to have superior future earnings and prospects compared to ESSA’s earnings and prospects on a stand-alone basis; |

| • |     | the composition of the loan portfolio and the commercial real estate concentration ratio of the combined company; |

| • |     | the anticipated financial impact of the transaction on the combined company, including the expected impact on key financial metrics (including tangible book value per share, return on average assets, return on average tangible common equity, and efficiency ratio), regulatory capital ratios, earnings per share accret