BB&T To Acquire Susquehanna Bancshares; Deal Valued At Approx. $2.5 Bln

(RTTNews) - BB&T Corp. (BBT) and Susquehanna Bancshares, Inc. (SUSQ) announced a definitive agreement under which BB&T will acquire Susquehanna in a cash and stock transaction for total consideration valued at approximately $2.5 billion. The shareholders of Susquehanna will receive as merger consideration 0.253 shares of BB&T common stock and $4.05 in cash for each share of Susquehanna common stock.

BB&T expects to incur pre-tax merger and integration costs of approximately $250 million and expects to achieve annual cost savings of approximately $160 million. The company expects the acquisition to be accretive to earnings per share in the first full year excluding one-time charges and expects the transaction to exceed its IRR hurdle.

Susquehanna, headquartered in Lititz, Pa., is a top 50 bank in the U.S. with $18.6 billion in assets, $13.6 billion in deposits and 245 banking offices in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia.