Wilmington Trust and the M&T Bank Corporation said on Monday that they would merge, creating a major lender in the eastern United States and a global provider of wealth management.
The deal is a stock-for-stock transaction in which Wilmington shareholders will get 0.051372 shares of M&T for every share of Wilmington. The deal is worth $351 million and is expected to close in the middle of next year.
M&T is based in Buffalo and holds $68.2 billion in assets, while Wilmington has $10.4 billion in assets, and is based in Wilmington, Del.
“As our third quarter earnings announcement shows, we continue to face difficult financial realities associated with the credit quality of the loan portfolio in our banking business,” Wilmington Trust’s chief, Donald E. Foley, said. “As a result, our board examined a range of strategic alternatives and has held discussions with several potential partners.”
M&T will obtain 48 branches and 225 ATMs, with no overlap in the two lenders’ branch networks, as well as Wilmington’s wealth advisory business, which works with high-net-worth clients in 36 countries.
Wilmington hired Lazard as financial adviser and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom as counsel. M&T hired RBC Capital Markets and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Morgan Stanley provided the fairness opinion.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Wilmington Trust
news.com
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