San Diego, March 06, 2012 (Shareholders Foundation) -- Following the announcement by Cadence Bancorp, LLC that it intends to acquire Encore Bancshares, Inc for $20.62 per NASDAQ:EBTX shares an investigation for investors in Encore Bancshares, Inc (NASDAQ:EBTX) shares was announced concerning whether the offer to acquire Encore Bancshares, Inc and the buyout process are unfair to investors in NASDAQ:EBTX shares.

The investigations by law firms concern whether Encore Bancshares, certain officers and directors, and/or others breached their fiduciary duties owed to Encore Bancshares, Inc (NASDAQ:EBTX) investors in connection with the proposed acquisition.

On March 6, 2012, Cadence Bancorp, LLC announced that it has entered into an agreement to purchase Encore Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBTX) in an all-cash transaction. Under terms of the proposed transaction, Cadence Bancorp, LLC will pay $20.62 per NASDAQ: EBTX share, or approximately $250 million for the approximately 12.1 million outstanding shares of Encore Bancshares, Inc., equating to a 2.4x price to tangible book value multiple.

Following the takeover news shares of Encore Bancshares, Inc (NASDAQ:EBTX) from $14.91 per share on Monday to $20.29 on Tuesday.

However, the investigation for NASDAQ:EBTX investors concerns whether the Encore Bancshares Board of Directors undertook an adequate sales process and in particular breached their fiduciary duties to NASDAQ:EBTX shareholders by failing to adequately shop the Company before entering into this transaction. Cadence Bancorp, LLC said that certain members of the Board of Directors of Encore Bancshares have already provided proxies in support of the transaction.

Furthermore, Encore Bancshares performance increased lately. In fact, Encore Bancshares Net Income rose from a Net Loss of $24.23million in 2010 to a Net Income of $7.24million in 2011.