M&T Bank’s $7.6 billion pending acquisition of People’s United Financial, including its 25 branches in New Hampshire, will create an institution with more branches than any other bank in the Northeast, save for Bank of America.
Yet there probably won’t be any changes in the near future, except perhaps the name and the new entity will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MTB. Holders of People’s shares will get 0.118% of a share of MTB stock for each of their shares in the all-stock transaction. That was about a 13% premium over the Feb. 19 close before the Feb. 22 merger announcement.
People’s shareholders will own 28% of the new entity.
“We don’t anticipate any changes to speak of to the folks that talk to customers,” said Darren King, M&T’s chief financial officer, during an investor call Monday.
“Our No. 1 priority is protecting those relationships.”
“They don’t want to disrupt things,” Dianne Mercier, president of People’s United Bank operations in the Granite State, told NH Business Review on Thursday.
It also helps that there is virtually no overlap, especially in New Hampshire. M&T has no operations here. The Buffalo-based bank’s current territory stretches down though New York state all the way to Washington D.C., whereas People’s — based in Bridgeport, Conn. — has a market that runs from Long Island to northern New England. The two banks only overlap in the New York City area, and even that will be lessened since People’s decision to close its Stop & Shop branches in New York and Connecticut last month. When you put them together, you have a region that accounts for 20% of the U.S. population.
“It’s like a puzzle piece that just slid into place,” said Mercier.
New Hampshire branches are mostly located in the southern part of the state and the Seacoast, with the sole exception of a branch in Wolfeboro that once belonged to Community Bank and Trust.
People’s acquired most of the others through acquisitions, notably Ocean Bank in 2008 to change the name. Mercier, who had worked at Ocean, expects that change to happen a lot sooner in this case, shortly after the deal’s anticipated close in the fourth quarter of this year.
“I fully and proudly expect to bear the M&T name,” said Mercier.
Mercier said she was looking forward to M&T’s “slick digital” offerings as well, a key reason driving bank mergers these days.
— BOB SANDERS
