Amidst the slew of suburban Philadelphia banks such as Penn Liberty, Sesquehanna, Continental and Conestoga that have recently been bought out by larger lenders, Malvern’s Meridian Bank is bucking the trend and choosing a different direction. Instead of looking for a larger partner, it is attempting to increase its business by offering up to $15 million in common stock in order to support close to $150 million in new loans, writes Philly.com.

“We think there’s a great opportunity for growth in the next few years, based on all the current bank turmoil,” said Chief Executive, Chris Annas, to philly.com’s, Joseph N. DiStefano. “As banks get bigger, they necessarily de-emphasize the smaller loans on which we feed.”

The bank is setting the price per share for its new common stock offering at close to $20, which is double the price of the bank’s initial price offering in 2004. However, as Annas explained, since then the bank has provided four 5 percent stock dividends that dropped the original basis to $8.23.

Unlike its competition, Meridian has seen consistent growth in its business. The bank has been boosting both its assets by at least 10 percent a year as well as its profits by a million in each year since 2009. This makes it unlikely that the bank will fold any time soon and makes the chance of it accepting even a lucrative offer for a buyout, less likely.

“This offering will provide us significant capital for growth, and reconfirm our independence to the business community,” said Annas. “A vibrant and diversified banking sector is critical for the Delaware Valleys continued economic growth.”

While the majority of banks have been complaining that it is now necessary to have at least $2 billion in loans and investment assets in order to survive, Meridian, which currently only has close to $650 million in assets, is proving that statement wrong.

As Annas points out, “there are many smaller and profitable banks nation-wide that can continue despite the regulatory onslaught.”