As one multibillion dollar mortgage producer announces it will gobble up an Ohio-based bank, another plans to be gobbled up itself.
Cleveland-based National City Corp. announced Tuesday it will acquire Cincinnatti-based Provident Financial Group Inc. for an approximate $2.1 billion. Subject to regulatory and stockholder approvals, completion of the transaction is expected in the second quarter of 2004.
National City, which reported mortgage originations of $17.2 billion during the fourth quarter, said the acquisition will strengthen its presence in the northern Kentucky market and will give them the leading market share in Ohio — Providence operates in 65 branches in these states.
Under the agreement terms, for each share of their common stock, Provident shareholders will recievie 1.135 shares of National City common stock in a tax-free exchange, said the Cleveland holding company.
“We are pleased to be joining forces with National City,” said Provident’s president Robert Hoverson, in a written statement.
The deal marks the second acquisition agreement in three months for National City, which announced it would expand into the St. Louis area with its acquisition of Allegiant Bancorp Inc. National City reported that the two pending acquisitions will produce combined assets of $133.4 billion, deposits of $76.0 billion and a total of 1,223 branches.
Meanwhile, New York-based North Fork Bancoporation Inc. announced Monday that it reached a $6.3 billion all-stock agreement to acquire GreenPoint Financial Corp. — a New York retail bank with 90 branches and a national mortgage business that reportedly originated $8.7 billion in loans during the fourth quarter.
According to North Fork, shareholders will receive 1.0514 shares of North Fork common stock for each GreenPoint share held.
With combined assets of $50 billion, $30 billion in deposits and over 340 branches, North Fork said it will become the largest bank holding company in the nation and the largest regional bank in the state.
“Shareholders of both companies have a tremendous opportunity to benefit from the long-term value creation of an enterprise that will be a major player in both commercial and consumer banking,” said GreenPoint executive Thomas Johnson, in the announcement.
Neither National City, GreenPoint, or North Fork returned calls to MortgageDaily.com for further comments prior to publication.
