New Hampshire Thrift Bancshares, Inc. Subsidiary Lake Sunapee Bank Completes Purchase of Charter Trust

NEWPORT, NH--(Marketwired - Oct 8, 2013) - Lake Sunapee Bank, fsb, a subsidiary of New Hampshire Thrift Bancshares (NASDAQ: NHTB), has completed the previously announced acquisition of Charter Trust Company ("Charter Trust"). Charter Trust was formed in 1984 as a New Hampshire-chartered non-depository trust company and is regulated by the State of New Hampshire Banking Department. Lake Sunapee Bank was one of the six original owners of Charter Trust and now, as a result of this acquisition, is the sole owner of Charter Trust.

Headquartered in Concord, New Hampshire, Charter Trust also has offices in New London, Meredith, Peterborough, Hanover and Rochester. Charter Trust's team of professional wealth advisors and investment managers work confidentially with individuals and families to create, manage and preserve wealth. Managing over $1.5 billion in client assets, Charter Trust acts as fiduciaries for clients in 43 states and 10 countries.

"Since our inception, Charter Trust has been focused on creating long lasting relationships with our clients," said Steven Albrecht, President and Chief Executive Officer of Charter Trust. "We design strategies to help our clients build, protect and transfer wealth."

For Lake Sunapee Bank, full ownership of Charter Trust marks an important milestone in the Bank's plan to provide a fully comprehensive one-stop financial services company. As part of this plan, Lake Sunapee Bank also acquired a New Hampshire-based independent insurance agency, McCrillis & Eldredge Insurance, Inc. in 2011. With these strategic acquisitions, Lake Sunapee Bank can now offer financial leadership, products and services to customers at any stage of life. 

"We have the kind of trusted relationships with our customers that only a community bank like ours can provide," said Stephen R. Theroux, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lake Sunapee Bank. "Through the acquisition of Charter Trust and McCrillis & Eldredge, we now have the capability of providing a full array of financial products and services at a high level of expertise to customers at any stage of life."

About Lake Sunapee Bank

Lake Sunapee Bank, a federally chartered stock savings bank, provides a wide range of banking and financial services throughout our 21 banking offices located in New Hampshire in Grafton, Hillsborough, Merrimack and Sullivan counties and 8 locations in Vermont in Rutland and Windsor counties. Lake Sunapee Bank, fsb has four wholly owned subsidiaries. Lake Sunapee Financial Services Corp., Lake Sunapee Group, Inc., which owns and maintains all buildings and investment properties, McCrillis & Eldredge Insurance, Inc., a full-line independent insurance agency acquired in 2012, which offers a complete range of commercial insurance services and consumer products, and Charter Trust Company, which provides trust and investment services from offices across New Hampshire with approximately $1.5 billion of assets under management.

About New Hampshire Thrift Bancshares, Inc.
New Hampshire Thrift Bancshares, Inc. is the savings and loan holding company of Lake Sunapee Bank, fsb. New Hampshire Thrift Bancshares, Inc. had total assets of approximately $1.2 billion as of September 30, 2013.