Big Bank Merger in Ohio
The recent wave of mergers involving regional lenders continued with Tuesday's announcement that
National City
(NCC)
is buying
Provident Financial
(PFGI)
for about $2.1 billion.
The deal brings together two of Ohio's largest banks and comes on the heels of
North Fork Bank's
(NFB)
$6.3 billion acquisition of
GreenPoint Financial
(GPT)
, a merger that combines two New York-area banks.
In the wake of two recent mega-mergers --
J.P. Morgan Chase's
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acquisition of
Bank One
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, and
Bank of America's
(BAC) - Get Bank of America Corp Report
takeover of
FleetBoston Financial
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-- regional lenders are opting to join forces to increase their retail customer base.
In the all-stock transaction, National City, the nation's 10th-largest bank in terms of assets, values Provident's shares at $40.17, a 15% premium to the stock's Friday close. The 15% premium is about average for most of the recent bank deals.
Provident stockholders will receive 1.135 shares of National City, based in Cleveland, in the deal.
Cincinnati-based Provident has 65 branches and $17 billion in assets. National City has 1,100 branches and $114 billion in assets.
Other recent regional mergers include the $6 billion combination of
Regions Financial
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and
Union Planters
(UPC)
and
Sovereign Bank's
(SOV)
$1.1 billion acquisition of
Seacoast Financial Services
(SCFS)
.
