SunTrust to Buy National Commerce for $7 Billion

The deal will create the country's seventh-largest bank.

Author:: TSC Staff
Publish date:: May 9, 2004 6:40 PM EDT

A brief bidding war for Memphis-based

National Commerce Financial

(NCF)

ended Sunday when

SunTrust

(STI) - Get Report

agreed to buy the regional bank for about $7 billion.

SunTrust, which beat out

Fifth Third

(FITB) - Get Report

in the bidding contest, will exchange cash and stock worth $33.46 for each National Commerce share. Word of a potential deal began to circulate Friday morning; National Commerce closed Thursday at $27.51 a share.

The acquisition will create the country's seventh-largest bank, with 1,723 branches and about $148 billion in assets. National Commerce has about $23 billion in assets.

National Commerce is the latest bank to be swept up in a wave of regional buyouts. Last week,

Royal Bank of Scotland

agreed to pay $10.5 billion for

Charter One

Under terms of the deal, National Commerce shareholders will receive 0.3713 SunTrust shares plus either cash or additional SunTrust shares worth $8.63. The transaction should come out to about $1.8 billion in cash and 77.5 million SunTrust shares.