Fifth Third聽agreed to buy regional lender Comerica聽in an all-stock deal valued at $10.9 billion, striking聽the biggest U.S. bank deal of the year that would create the nation’s ninth-largest lender.
Comerica CEO Curtis Farmer said that the administration’s pro-business stance was one of the factors behind the deal timing. “The shifting regulatory environment has gotten more conducive to M&A, and we saw windows starting to open where there might be a chance for us to consider partnering with another institution,” Farmer told Reuters in an interview. The talks took “just a few weeks,” he said.
While the deal still requires approval from regulators and some additional due diligence, the parties are confident the transaction will get the green light from officials. 鈥淲e would not be moving forward if we did not feel like we had regulatory support,” he added.
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Author: Manya Saini, Saeed Azhar and Nupur Anand, Reuters