Ameris Bancorp has reached an agreement to acquire Jacksonville Bancorp, the parent company of The Jacksonville Bank.

In a statement released Thursday, Ameris officials said the company signed a merger agreement with Jacksonville Bancorp to acquire all of its eight banking locations in Jacksonville.

A news release stated the merger is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016. Once the deal is completed, the combined company will have about $5.7 billion in assets, $4 billion in loans and $4.9 billion in deposits.