Fund Holders Score in Bank Deal

Bank of New York's(BK Quote) planned merger with Mellon Financial (MEL Quote) has Capital Research and Management smiling all the way to the bank.

The sponsor of the American Funds family collectively holds 5.347% of Bank of New York and 3.889% of Mellon, according to data from TheStreet.com Ratings.

(AWSHX Quote)American Funds Washington Mutual Investors Fund is the biggest individual fund holder of Bank of New York, with 19.77 million shares, followed by (AGTHX Quote)American Funds Growth Fund of America with 9.19 million shares and (AMRMX Quote)American Funds American Mutual Fund with 3.25 million shares.

Growth Fund of American also has 8.48 million shares of Mellon, while American Funds Mutual Fund has 1.8 million shares of the Pittsburgh bank, and (ANCFX Quote)American Funds Fundamental Investors has 1.0 million shares.

Under the terms of the deal, Bank of New York shareholders will receive 0.9434 shares in the new company, and Mellon shareholders will receive one share in the new company.

The combined bank will have $1.1 trillion in assets under management and $16.6 trillion in assets under custody.

The companies said they plan a $1.3 billion restructuring that will cut 3,900 jobs over three years "through normal attrition wherever possible." The companies now employ 40,000. The cuts will reduce pretax costs by $700 million annually.

News of the deal sent shares of Bank of New York up $4.27, or 12.03%, to $39.75 Monday, while Mellon's stock rose $2.73, or 6.82%, to $42.78.