Less than a month after First Union Securities proposed a merger with Wachovia Corp., SunTrust Banks stepped into the picture today, making a bid to buy Wachovia.
According to SunTrust, its offer of $14.7 billion represents a 17% premium to the implied value of First Union’s proposed acquisition of Wachovia.
“Our deal is not dead; it’s still cooking,” says a First Union spokesperson.
First Union announced April 16 that it was buying Wachovia Corp. and would adopt its corporate identity. Under the proposed merger, First Union Corp. would become Wachovia Corp. and First Union Securities would be renamed Wachovia Securities, firm officials said.
Following SunTrust’s move today, First Union issued a statement, “SunTrust’s announcement of a hostile, unsolicited takeover proposal for Wachovia will not impact First Union’s intent to close its negotiated merger with Wachovia on the terms previously agreed to by the two parties.”
First Union CEO Ken Thompson said: “While we’ve known for some time that SunTrust had an interest in Wachovia, First Union and Wachovia determined that a strategic alignment between the two companies is in the best interest of all shareholders. We have a binding legal agreement with Wachovia that we intend to vigorously pursue to consummation.”
To view RR Online’s April 16 story, click here: http://industryclick.com/magnewsarticle.asp?newsarticleid=195462&magazineid=156&SiteID=16
To view SunTrust’s press release on its offer to Wachovia, click here: http://suntrust.com/pers/about/frame_merg1.html
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