in Michigan, Illinois and Indiana, for $7.1 billion in stock. The acquisition was completed in March 1998. Expansion in Missouri In November 2003, National City Corp. announced that it was acquiring the St. Louis-based Allegiant Bancorp for $475 million in stock. The acquisition was completed in April 2004 for $500 million in stock. Expansion in Florida In July 2006, National City Corp. announced that it was acquiring the Fort Pierce-based Harbor Florida Bancshares for $1.1 billion in stock. The acquisition was completed in December 2006. In July 2006, National City Corp. announced that it was acquiring the West Palm Beach-based Harbor Fidelity Bankshares for $1 billion in stock. The acquisition was completed in January 2007. Expansion in Illinois and Wisconsin In May 2007, National City Corp. announced that it was acquiring the Clarendon Hills-based MAF Bancorp, with offices in Chicago and Milwaukee, for $1.9 billion in stock. The acquisition was completed in September 2007. Recent transactions National City went on an acquisition spree from 2004 through 2008, headed by its $2.1 billion purchase of Cincinnati-based Provident Financial Group. Provident Financial Group's banking arm, Provident Bank, specialized in warehouse lending facilities whereby it extended commercial credit lines to mortgage banking firms so that the mortgage banking firms could make loans to their customers and either keep those loans or sell them in the secondary market to government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) or other institutional investors. After the acquisition, National City renamed the division National City Warehouse Resources. The warehouse lending division was a profit center and did not contribute to the bank's downfall. In addition, in 2005, National City acquired Allegiant Bancorp to secure a presence in the St. Louis, Missouri, market. In 2006, they acquired Fidelity Bankshares Inc. for an estimated $1 billion deal that was half cash, half stock. The bank also acquired Harbor Florida Bancshares Inc. through a $1.1 billion stock deal, with both acquired banks located in Florida; these acquisitions gave National City $7.4 billion of assets and 94 branches in Florida. On the other side of the ledger, National City sold to Bank of America its 83% stake in National Processing Company, which earns fees from processing merchant credit card transactions. The sale of San Jose, California, based First Franklin origination franchise and related servicing platform to Merrill Lynch & Co. was completed on December 30, 2006, for $1.3 billion. In May 2007, National City announced the purchase