BB&T Solves Jamie Dimon’s ‘Too Many Banks’ Problem
The rationale for its combination with SunTrust is clear, but the gap to the biggest finance giants remains wide.
Yes, welcome, SunTrust investors.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
The much-anticipated next wave of banking consolidation has begun.
BB&T Corp. announced on Thursday that it had agreed to buy SunTrust Banks Inc. in an all-stock deal that values the latter company at about $28 billion, not including debt. The merger fulfills predictions by everyone from Bank of America Corp. CEO Brian Moynihan to analysts at Ernst & Young that loosening regulations may set the stage for consolidation. While there’s been a smattering of smaller deals, such as Fifth Third Bancorp’s $4.7 billion takeover of MB Financial Inc. announced last year, the SunTrust and BB&T combination is the biggest banking merger since the financial crisis.