** Shares of Malvern Bancorp Inc MLVF.O up 13.4% at
$17.48, highest in more than a year
** First Bank FRBA.O to acquire MLVF in a deal valued
$149.5 mln, based on FRBA's closing price of $15.31 on Dec. 13
** MLVF shareholders will get 0.7733 shares of FRBA common
stock and $7.80 in cash for each MLVF share
** Merger approved by boards of both companies, expected to
be completed in Q2 2023
** Transaction will be significantly and immediately
accretive to FRBA's earnings per share
** FRBA shares slip 9.9%, trading at $13.79, a two-month low
** Including Wednesday's trading, MLVF up 11.7% YTD, FRBA
down 4.9%
(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru)
((Shashwat.Chauhan@thomsonreuters.com))