Who should PNC buy?

[mjcatl2]

No, I haven't read any rumors, but they bubble up almost annually - that is who will buy PNC.

How about PNC take out a largish bank? I thought it would be great to take out Atlanta's SunTrust which has had rumors of being sold in recent months, but can it be done, I looked up a list of the largest banks and SunTrust might be too big to purchase...

Top 150 Largest Banks

Following are the 150 U.S. financial institutions with the most deposits as of 31 March 2005 (in billions of U.S. dollars). For updated information, go to www.fdic.gov. Note: Click on the bank or credit union's name to go directly to their website.

Source: American Banker, 9/05.

Rank Name Headquarters Deposits (billions) Assets (billions)

1 Bank of America Charlotte, NC $630 $1,214

2 Citicorp New York, NY $569 $1,490

3 JP Morgan Chase New York, NY $531 $1,179

4 Wachovia Charlotte, NC $299 $507

5 Wells Fargo San Francisco, CA $273 $435

6 Washington Mutual Seattle, WA $172 $337

7 U.S. Bancorp Minneapolis, MN $120 $198

8 SunTrust Bank Atlanta, GA $108 $165

9 Royal Bank of Scotland Edinburgh $95 $141

10 HSBC Holding London $84 $141

11 National City Cleveland, OH $81 $141

12 BB&T Corporation Winston-Salem, NC $67 $102

13 Fifth Third Bancorp Cincinnati, OH $65 $103

14 Regions Financial Birmingham, AL $60 $85

15 Bank of New York New York, NY $59 $97

16 ABN Amro (LaSalle Bank) Amsterdam $59 $106

17 State Street Corp. Boston, MA $58 $100

18 KeyCorp Cleveland, OH $57 $90

19 Golden West (World Savings) Oakland, CA $56 $112

20 PNC Financial Services Group Pittsburgh $55 $83

21 Mitsubishi Tokyo (Union Bank) Tokyo $45 $53

22 Comerica Detroit, MI $43 $54

23 North Fork Bancorp Melville, NY $36 $61

24 M&T Bank Buffalo, NY $36 $54

25 Sovereign Bancorp Philadelphia, PA $36 $59

26 Northern Trust Chicago, IL $35 $48

27 AmSouth Bancorporation Birmingham, AL $35 $50

28 BNP Paribas (Bank of the West) Paris $35 $52

29 ING USA Wilmington, DE $32 $44

30 MBNA Wilmington, DE $31 $61

31 Commerce Bancorp Cherry Hill, NJ $30 $32

32 Bank of Montreal (Harris Bank) Toronto $26 $36

33 Capital One Financial* McClean, VA $26 $56

34 Marshall & Ilsley Milwaukee, WI $26 $42

35 Countrywide Financial Corp. Calabasas, CA $26 $137

36 Mellon Bank Pittsburgh, PA $24 $38

37 Zions Bancorp Salt Lake City $24 $32

38 First Horizon National Bancorp Memphis $23 $35

39 Huntington Bancshares Columbus, OH $22 $32

40 Popular Inc San Juan, PR $22 $45

41 TD Banknorth Group, Inc. Portland, ME $20 $28

42 Synovus Financial Corp. Columbus, GA $19 $26

43 Navy Federal Credit Union Merrifield, VA $19 $24

44 Compass Bancshares Birmingham, AL $18 $29

45 Hibernia Bank New Orleans, LA $18 $22

46 Deutsche Bank Frankfurt $17 $36

47 UBS AG Zurich $16 $18

48 USAA Bancorp Inc. San Antonio, TX $14 $18

49 Colonial Bancgroup Montgomery, AL $13 $20

50 Dean Witter, Discover and Co. New York $13 $19

51 E-Trade Financial New York $13 $26

52 Astoria Financial Corp. Lake Success, NY $13 $23

53 Associated Banc-Corp Green Bay, WI $12 $20

54 City National Bank Beverly Hills, CA $12 $14

55 Hudson City Bancorp Paramus, NJ $12 $21

56 First Citizens Bancshares Raleigh, NC $12 $

57 State Employees Credit Union Raleigh, NC $12 $13

58 Charles Schwab Corp. San Francisco, CA $11 $46

59 Royal Bank of Canada (Centura) Toronto $11 $19

60 Webster Financial Corp Waterbury, CT $11 $17

61 Mercantile Bankshares Corp. Baltimore, MD $11 $15

62 Lauritzen Corp. Omaha $11 $14

63 New York Community Bancorp Inc. Westbury $11 $25

64 Commerce Bancshares Kansas City, MO $11 $14

65 Sky Financial Group Bowling Green, OH $10 $15

66 FBOP Corp Oak Park, IL $10 $13

67 Downey Financial Corp Newport Beach, CA $10 $17

68 Independence Community Bank New York $10 $18

69 BOK Financial Corp. Tulsa, OK $9.8 $15

70 BF Saul Real Estate Trust Chevy Chase, MD $9.5 $14

71 Toronto-Dominion Bank Toronto $9.3 $11

72 First Bancorp San Juan, PR $9.2 $17

73 Temple Inland Financial Diboll, TX $9.1 $16

74 Bancorpsouth, Inc. Tupelo, MS $9.0 $11

75 People's Mutual Holdings Bridgeport, CT $9.0 $11

76 Ohio Savings Financial Cleveland, OH $8.8 $15

77 TCF Financial Wayzata, MN $8.5 $13

78 South Financial Group Greenville, SC $8.1 $15

79 Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. San Antonio, TX $8.0 $9.9

80 Fulton Financial Corp. Lancaster, PA $7.9 $11

81 Valley National Bank Wayne, NJ $7.9 $11

82 Flagstar Bancorp Inc. Bloomfield Hills, MI $7.7 $14

83 Bank of Hawaii Honolulu, HI $7.7 $9.9

84 Firstmerit Corp. Akron, OH $7.3 $9.9

85 State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Bloomington, IL $7.1 $10

86 Third Federal S&L Cleveland, OH $7.0 $8.2

87 First Banks Inc St. Louis, MO $7.0 $8.6

88 W Holding Co.. Inc. Mayaguez, PR $7 $15

89 Wilmington Trust Wilmington, DE $6.9 $9.6

90 Whitney Holding Corp. New Orleans, LA $6.7 $8.3

91 International Banksharess Corp Laredo, TX $6.6 $10

92 Pentagon Federal Credit Union Alexandria, VA $6.6 $7.5

93 FirstBank Holding Co. Lakewood, CO $6.4 $7.0

94 Old National Bancorp Evansville, IN $6.5 $8.8

95 Commercial Federal Corp Omaha, NE $6.3 $10

96 Hudson United Bank Mahwah, NJ $6.25 $8.9

97 Arvest Bank Group Bentonville, AR $6.2 $7.4

98 New York Private Bank & Trust Corp New York $6.0 $9.7

99 MAF Bancorp Clarendon Hills, IL $6.0 $9.7

100 Wintrust Financial Corp Lake Forest, IL $5.9 $7.3

101 Southwest Bancorp of Texas Houston $5.8 $7.6

102 Indymac Bancorp. Inc. Pasadena, CA $5.6 $17

103 Trustmark Corp. Jackson, MS $5.5 $8.2

104 Israel Discount Bank Ltd. Tel-Aviv $5.5 $8.7

105 UCBH Holdings, Inc. San Francisco $5.4 $6.5

106 Banco Santander Sa Spain $5.3 $8.3

107 R&G Financial Corp. San Jaun, Puerto Rico $5.3 $11

108 Citizens Banking Corp. Flint, MI $5.3 $7.8

109 Northwest Bancorp MHC Warren, PA $5.3 $6.4

110 First Niagara Financial Group Lockport, NY $5.2 $7.9

111 Chittenden Corp Burlington, VT $5.1 $6.199

112 Susquehanna Bancsharess Inc. Lititz, PA $5.1 $7.3

113 Texas Regional Bancshares McAllen, TX $5.0 $6.0

114 Golden 1 Credit Union Sacramento, CA $5.0 $5.6

115 UMB Financial Corp. Kansas City, MO $5.0 $7.0

116 Greater Bay Bancorp Palo Alto, CA $5.0 $7.0

117 First Midwest Bancorp, Inc. Itasca, IL $4.9 $6.9

118 Eastern Bank Corp Boston, MA $4.9 $6.5

119 Central Bancompany Jefferson City, MO $4.9 $6.7

120 Investors Financial Services Boston, MA $4.9 $12

121 East West Bancorp, Inc. San Marino, CA $4.7 $6.3

122 Boeing Employees Credit Union Tukwila, WA $4.7 $5.4

123 Washington Federal, Inc. Seattle, WA $4.7 $7.6

124 Cathay General Bancorp Los Angeles, CA $4.7 $6.2

125 Corus Bancshares, Inc. Chicago, IL $4.6 $5.4

126 Bank Leumi Ie-Israel, BM Tel-Aviv, Israel $4.6 $

127 Pacific Capital Bancorp Santa Barbara, CA $4.6 $4.4

128 Orange County Teachers Federal Credit Union Santa Ana, CA $4.5 $5.5

129 Hawaiian Electric Industries Honolulu $4.4 $6.8

130 United Bancshares, Inc. Charleston, W.VA $4.4 $6.3

131 Otto Bremer Foundation St. Paul, MN $4.3 $6.2

132 Capitol Federal Savings Bank MHC Topeka, KS $4.2 $

133 Silicon Valley Bancshares Santa Clara, CA $4.2 $3.7

134 Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union Tampa, FL $4.1 $4.7

135 Sterling Financial Corp. Spokane, WA $4.1 $7.0

136 Alabama National Bancorp Birmingham, AL $4.1 $3.6

137 Ocean Bankshares, Inc. Miami, FL $4.1 $4.2

138 Provident Financial Services Jersey City, NJ $4.1 $6.4

139 BankUnited Financial Corp. Coral Gables, FL $4.1 $9.2

140 Riggs National Corporation Washington, DC $4.0 $6.8

141 First Citizens Bancorp, Inc. Columbia, SC $4.0 $3.9

142 MB Financial, Inc. Chicago, IL $3.9 $

143 Umpqua Holdings Corp. Portland, OR $3.9 $2.6

144 Westamerica Bancorp San Rafael, CA $3.9 $4.4

145 Provident Bancshares Corp Baltimore, MD $3.9 $6.4

146 F.N.B. Corporation Hermitage, PA $3.9 $

147 First Commonwealth Financial Corporation Indiana, PA $3.9 $6.2

148 Hancock Holding Company Gulfport, MS $3.9 $

149 Amcore Financial Inc. Rockford, IL $3.9 $

150 WJR Corporation Rancho Santa Fe, CA $3.8 $

[PghUSA]

^^Very interesting list, but you are forgetting a KEY bit of information, when one company goes to buy the other it is not (in the terms of financial institutions) how much they have in accounts, or even how much revenue they have, the KEY factor in lbo's is the price of the companies stock and how many shares outstanding they have.

A fascinating lesson on this is how Pittsburgh's own Gulf Oil was once the 8th largest company on earth in terms of revenue, or assets on hand in a loose way, but was forced to dissolve because of a lbo from the itsy bitsy Mesa Oil and T. Boone Pickens in 1985. (The movies Wall Street, Other People's Money and Barbarians at the Gate are all great examples of how a disgruntled shareholder or even some financeer with backing of big money can rip to shreds a very large multinational in the space of a few weeks).

PNC's biggest boost is that it has tons of "cash on hand" and a virtual annuity payment with it's sale of a large chunk of Blackrock recently, it also has a relatively strong stock price that it can leverage for payment with a weak-stock-price-bank.

Fun and great stuff if your into the high finance game, a few years ago I actually did a day-by-day Lexis/Nexis of the Gulf Oil dissolution at the hands of Picken's Mesa. Fascinating all the behind-the-scenes intrigue and heavy dealing that goes on in the board rooms and lending offices of some of the country's power firms.

Funny thing about the Gulf Oil raid on the 700 block of Grant back in the Gordon Gekko days was the fact that the founding family of the firm (the Mellons and their Mellon Bank) actually gave T. Boone Picken's and Mesa the seed money to leverage a takeover of Gulf. It was the play Julius Cesear come to life, Et Tu Richard Mellon Scaife? The motive was simple the Mellons were very rudely kicked off the board (although they were the majority shareholder of the company) by a clic of wildcaters that had entrentched themselves over the years at Gulf.

The other twist of irony is that in the feeding frenzy that ensued, the Kuwaiti royal family was actually making a bid for Gulf Oil--this after Gulf Oil lorded over Kuwait for 50 years developing their oil fields and enriching the "serfs" of Kuwait from nomads to modernity.

Chevron eventually got the majority of what was left of Gulf Oil after all the bloodletting, you can still see evidence of all of this at the spacious UPMC Harmar facility (the old Gulf Oil Global research labs) and the very strangely placed (since Chevron is a California company and west coast charity) "Chevron Science Center" skyscraper at the University of Pittsburgh. It was all Gulf money, remember that .

[tooluther]

I vote for Northern Trust. It would push PNC into the top ten plus it would give them a presence in Chicago.

[PghUSA]

^^I don't think PNC would pull the trigger on that, though having the 3rd largest media market would be nice. Banks want the sunbelt, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Cali, that's where the big $$ is made (see Wachovia's deal for the Cali-Arizona bank recently). PNC is already kicked around by some on the street as a "rust belt" bank. Going to Chicago would be nice, but they'd get much much more bang for their buck following their two aquisitions in sunbelt like MD-DC-VA and continue heading south or substantially add on to their base of ATMs and handful of investment branches in Florida with a Suntrust like buy.

[tooluther]

Well we have an answer to this question. PNC announced this morning that they are acquiring Merchantile Bank in Baltrimore. The deal will make PNC a top 10 bank, and will add to their precense in the D.C./Baltimore Markets.

[TheGerbil]

Great! I am glad to see them growing rather than being swallowed up.

[mjcatl2]

anyone know where PNC sits now in the rankings?

[tooluther]

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