Dive Brief:
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SunTrust will sell 30 of its branches to First Horizon in an effort to satisfy regulatory requirements in connection with its planned acquisition by BB&T, the banks announced Friday.
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The Department of Justice announced Friday that BB&T and SunTrust agreed to shed branches across North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia to resolve antitrust concerns.
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First Horizon will assume approximately $2.4 billion in deposits for a deposit premium of 3.4%, and will purchase about $410 million in loans. The deal is expected to close early next year.
Dive Insight:
The DOJ said the divestiture is the largest of any bank merger in over a decade.
In a release, BB&T Chairman and CEO Kelly King called the agreement with First Horizon a "significant and required step toward the merger of equals between BB&T and SunTrust."
BB&T and SunTrust still need to gain approval from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, as well as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. before the merger can be completed.
Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based BB&T announced plans to acquire Atlanta-based SunTrust in February. If approved, the deal would relocate the combined Truist Bank to Charlotte, North Carolina.
First Horizon, which announced its own planned acquisition of Lafayette, Louisiana-based IberiaBank on Monday, said the SunTrust branch acquisitions are unrelated to that announcement.
The Memphis-based bank said the SunTrust branch acquisition "enhances the company’s presence in key growth markets such as Durham, Chapel Hill and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as well as extends its banking footprint into additional attractive markets in Virginia and Georgia."
