BB&T Corp. announced Tuesday it has received regulatory approval to buy Pennsylvania-based lender Susquehanna Bancshares. Winston-Salem-based BB&T Corp. announced that federal and state regulators have OK’d the deal, which is expected to close Aug. 1. The roughly $2.5 billion cash-and-stock purchase was originally announced in November. BB&T said the deal will increase its footprint in the mid-Atlantic region, where Susquehanna operates more than 240 branch offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and West Virginia through subsidiary Susquehanna Bank. BB&T said it will acquire $18.7 billion in assets and $13.8 billion in deposits through the deal. For the most comprehensive local coverage, subscribe today. “Susquehanna is a strategically compelling deal expanding our franchise into a contiguous, attractive region that presents tremendous opportunities,” BB&T Chairman and CEO Kelly King said in a statement Tuesday. Susquehanna Bancshares, a bank holding company, has 3,400 employees. The company’s other operations include wealth management, risk management consulting, insurance brokerage, commercial finance and vehicle leasing. Tuesday’s announcement comes a month after BB&T Corp. completed its purchase of The Bank of Kentucky. BB&T agreed in September to buy that lender for about $363 million in stock and cash. The deal marked BB&T’s first acquisition of another lender since it acquired Florida’s BankAtlantic in 2012. BB&T is the third-largest lender by deposits in the Charlotte metropolitan area, behind No. 1 Bank of America and No. 2 Wells Fargo.
BB&T has received regulatory approval to complete its purchase of Susquehanna Bancshares for c. $2.5bn, expanding its footprint in the mid-Atlantic region. This follows BB&T being granted permission to acquire the Bank of Kentucky last month. The deal is expected to close by early next year, subject to shareholder and regulators’ approval.