Firstar, U.S. Bancorp Complete Merger

Firstar (FSR Quote) and U.S. Bancorp (USB Quote) said Tuesday they have completed their merger, valued at $21.2 billion when it was announced last October.

The new U.S. Bancorp, headquartered in Minneapolis, will be the eighth-largest financial-services holding firm with assets of more than $160 billion. The company will trade under the stock symbol USB.

Jerry Grundhofer, who was the president and chief executive officer of Firstar, will head the new U.S. Bancorp, while his brother, John Grundhofer, former chairman, president and CEO of U.S. Bancorp, will serve as chairman until his retirement at the end of 2002, the companies said.

Separately, U.S. Bancorp said its board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.1875 per common share, which represents a 15.4% increase for former Firstar shareholders, and a 10.3% increase over the previous U.S. Bancorp dividend.

Shares of U.S. Bancorp gained 11 cents, or 0.47%, to $23.45 in Tuesday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.