GATEWAY FINANCIAL EXECUTES UNDERWRITING AGREEMENT FOR THE SALE OF 2,000,000 SHARES OF COMMON STOCK

                                                                      Exhibit 99

        GATEWAY FINANCIAL EXECUTES UNDERWRITING AGREEMENT FOR THE SALE OF

                        2,000,000 SHARES OF COMMON STOCK

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Dec. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Gateway Financial

Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: GBTS) (the "Company"), the holding company for

Gateway Bank & Trust Co., announced that on December 15, it executed an

underwriting agreement with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods for the sale of

2,000,000 shares of common stock at a price of $16.00 per share. The net

proceeds of the public offering are expected to be approximately $30.08

million.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods is the sole bookrunner for the offering and was

granted an option, exercisable for a period of 30 days, to purchase up

to an additional 300,000 shares of common stock to cov