Another local bank will soon have a North Carolina corporate address.

BB&T Corporation of Winston-Salem, N.C. announced Wednesday the acquisition of First Citizens Corporation of Newnan in a $125.9 million stock transaction.

BB&T operates 534 banking offices in the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. and has $35 billion in assets.

The move gives BB& T a foothold in Georgia, and more specifically the Atlanta market.

"First Citizens Corporation is a quality institution that will give us a new presence in a major financial center," said BB&T chairman John Allison. "We're excited about adding a community bank in Georgia that will provide a base for future market expansion and push us toward our goal of creating the world standard revenue-driven sales organization."

Named as the top "small business friendly" bank in the nation by the Small Business Administration, BB&T expects to expand consumer, small business and commercial lending opportunities in the metro Atlanta area.

First Citizens Corporation, with $421 million in assets, operates 13 banking offices and one mortgage loan office in south metro Atlanta and First Citizens chairman Littleton Glover said the shareholders would be quite happy with the deal.

"Our stock's trading for $26 and the shareholders will receive $40 per share," he said.

Glover does not anticipate the customers of the bank will feel any repercussions from the acquisition. On the contrary, the chairman feels the deal is a win- win situation.

First Citizens operates through its three subsidiaries: First Citizens bank, Newnan First Citizens Bank of Fayette County and First Citizens Bank of Clayton County. The corporation also owns mortgage banking and real estate development subsidiaries. Its market area includes Coweta, Fayette, Henry, Clayton and Troup counties.