UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM 8-K

 

CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of

the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

 

 

  September 18, 2018  
 

Date of Report

(Date of earliest event reported)

  

 

WSFS Financial Corporation
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

Delaware   001-35638   22-2866913

(State or other jurisdiction

of incorporation)

  

(SEC Commission

File Number)

  

(IRS Employer

Identification Number)

 

WSFS Bank Center

500 Delaware Avenue, Wilmington, Delaware

  

 

19801

  
(Address of principal executive offices)   (Zip Code)  

 

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (302) 792-6000

 

Not Applicable
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

 

 

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

 

ý Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act
¨ Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act
¨ Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act
¨ Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).

 

Emerging growth company ¨

 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ¨

 

 

 

WSFS FINANCIAL CORPORATION

 

INFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED IN THE REPORT

 

 

Item 7.01 Regulation FD Disclosure.

 

On September 18, 2018, WSFS Financial Corporation (“WSFS”) announced that Mark A. Turner, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of WSFS, Rodger Levenson, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of WSFS and Dominic C. Canuso, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of WSFS, will make presentations to analysts and investors at various meetings during the month of September. A copy of the press release is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and a copy of the presentation materials is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.2 and each are incorporated herein by reference.

 

This information (including Exhibits 99.1 and 99.2) is furnished and shall not be deemed filed for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section, and such information shall not be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), or the Exchange Act, except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing.

 

Item 8.01 Other Events.

 

The only information contained in this Form 8-K being filed for the purposes of compliance with Rule 425 of the Securities Act is the information relating solely to the proposed merger between WSFS and Beneficial Bancorp, Inc. (“Beneficial”) contained in the presentation materials furnished herewith as Exhibit 99.2 and being filed under this Item 8.01.

 

Important Additional Information will be Filed with the SEC

 

This Current Report on Form 8-K does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval with respect to the proposed acquisition by WSFS of Beneficial (the “Proposed Transaction”). No offer of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of the Securities Act, and no offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy shall be made in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

 

 

 

In connection with the Proposed Transaction, WSFS will file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) a Registration Statement on Form S-4 (the “Registration Statement”) that will include a joint proxy statement of WSFS and Beneficial and a prospectus of WSFS (the “Joint Proxy/Prospectus”), and each of WSFS and Beneficial may file with the SEC other relevant documents concerning the Proposed Transaction. The definitive Joint Proxy /Prospectus will be mailed to stockholders of WSFS and Beneficial. Stockholders are urged to read the Registration Statement and the Joint Proxy/Prospectus regarding the Proposed Transaction carefully and in their entirety when they become available and any other relevant documents filed with the SEC by WSFS and Beneficial, as well as any amendments or supplements to those documents, because they will contain important information about the Proposed Transaction.

 

Free copies of the Registration Statement and the Joint Proxy/Prospectus, as well as other filings containing information about WSFS and Beneficial, may be obtained at the SEC’s website (http://www.sec.gov) when they are filed. You will also be able to obtain these documents, when they are filed, free of charge, by directing a request to WSFS Financial Corporation, WSFS Bank Center, 500 Delaware Avenue, Wilmington, Delaware 19801 or by directing a request to Beneficial Bancorp, Inc., Beneficial Bank Place, 1818 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103.

 

Participants in the Solicitation

 

WSFS, Beneficial and certain of their respective directors, executive officers and employees may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the stockholders of WSFS or Beneficial in respect of the Proposed Transaction. Information about WSFS’s directors and executive officers is available in its proxy statement for its 2018 annual meeting of stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on March 23, 2018, and information regarding Beneficial’s directors and executive officers is available in its proxy statement for its 2018 annual meeting of stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on March 8, 2018. Information regarding the persons who may, under the rules of the SEC, be deemed participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be contained in the Joint Proxy/Prospectus and other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC when they become available. Free copies of this document may be obtained as described in the preceding paragraph.

 

 

 

Forward-Looking Statements

 

This Current Report on Form 8-K contains estimates, predictions, opinions, projections and other “forward-looking statements” as that phrase is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements relating to the impact WSFS expects its proposed acquisition of Beneficial to have on the combined entity’s operations, financial condition, and financial results, and WSFS’s expectations about its ability to successfully integrate the combined businesses and the amount of cost savings and overall operational efficiencies WSFS expects to realize as a result of the proposed acquisition. The forward-looking statements also include predications or expectations of future business or financial performance as well as goals and objectives for future operations, financial and business trends, business prospects, and management’s outlook or expectations for earnings, revenues, expenses, capital levels, liquidity levels, asset quality or other future financial or business performance, strategies or expectations. The words “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “estimate,” “target,” “project” and similar expressions, among others, generally identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on various assumptions (many of which are beyond the control of WSFS and Beneficial) and are subject to risks and uncertainties (which change over time) and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the possibility that the proposed acquisition does not close when expected or at all because required regulatory, stockholder or other approvals and other conditions to closing are not received or satisfied on a timely basis or at all, the failure to close for any other reason, changes in WSFS’s share price before closing, that the businesses of WSFS and Beneficial will not be integrated successfully, that the cost savings and any synergies from the proposed acquisition may not be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected, disruption from the proposed acquisition making it more difficult to maintain relationships with employees, customers or other parties with whom WSFS or Beneficial have business relationships, diversion of management time on merger-related issues, risks relating to the potential dilutive effect of shares of WSFS common stock to be issued in the transaction, the reaction to the transaction of the companies’ customers, employees and counterparties and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of WSFS and Beneficial. We refer you to the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of WSFS’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, the Annual Report on Form 10-K filed by Beneficial for the year ended December 31, 2017 and any updates to those risk factors set forth in WSFS’s and Beneficial’s Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and other filings, which have been filed by WSFS and Beneficial with the SEC and are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements, expressed or implied, included in this Current Report on Form 8-K are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to herein. The actual results or developments anticipated may not be realized or, even if substantially realized, they may not have the expected consequences to or effects on WSFS, Beneficial or their respective businesses or operations. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. Neither WSFS nor Beneficial undertakes any obligation, and specifically declines any obligation, to revise or update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

 

Item 9.01 Exhibits.

 

(d) Exhibits

 

Exhibit 99.1 – Press Release, dated September 18, 2018.

 

Exhibit 99.2 – Investor Presentation, dated September 19, 2018.

 

 

 

SIGNATURES

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this Report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, hereunto duly authorized.

 

 

    WSFS FINANCIAL CORPORATION  
       
       
Date: September 19, 2018   By: /s/ Dominic C. Canuso  
    Name:   Dominic C. Canuso  
    Title: Executive Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer