Courtesy of Benzinga
PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: PNC) will acquire the U.S. retail operations of Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY) for $3.45 billion in cash and stock, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters Sunday.
PNC provides deposit, lending, cash management and investment services to more than 5 million consumer and small business customers across 15 states and the District of Columbia.
Its purchase of the U.S. operations of RBC would increase PNC’s retail footprint considerably.
According to the Reuters report, “RBC, the largest Canadian bank by assets, put its struggling U.S. consumer banking business on the market after failing for years to wring profits from the operations acquired nearly a decade ago. JPMorgan Chase & Co is advising RBC on the sale.”
At the end of 2010, PNC managed approximately $108 billion in assets under management, serving clients from over 80 offices in 14 states and the District of Columbia.
RBC’s U.S. retail bank has lost money for 10 straight quarters, so PNC’s acquisition plan will likely include ways to turn that trend around. Announcement of the acquisition will likely happen in the next week or so.
Notably, PNC also owns approximately one-quarter of BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), one of the largest publicly traded investment management firms in the country.
Royal Bank of Canada is a financial services company that provides personal and commercial banking, wealth management services, insurance, corporate and investment banking, and transaction processing services.
