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Banks sell $13.2B in deposits
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September 2, 1999: 4:56 p.m. ET
Fleet and BankBoston agree to deposits in New England branches
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In the largest divestiture ever for a bank merger, the Department of Justice Thursday announced that Fleet Financial Group and Bank Boston Corp. have agreed to sell $13.2 billion in deposits in 306 branch offices in New England to satisfy the government's antitrust concerns.
Antitrust officials approved a Fleet (FLT) proposal in which the bulk of the divested assets will be sold to a primary buyer, creating a regional bank. The Justice Department said the move "will restore competition that would otherwise have been lost by the merger."
The sale will establish the primary buyer as the leading small-business lender in Boston and other New England towns, and as a major middle market lender in New England, Justice Department officials said.
The 306 divested branches are located throughout Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
"These historic divestitures will give the primary buyer a platform to compete for all customers in New England," said Assistant Attorney General Joel Klein.
Thursday's landmark divestiture exceeds the previous record of an $8.5 billion divestiture in the Bank of America (BAC) merger with Security Pacific in 1992. The Federal Reserve Board will now make the final determination on the merger, and decide whether it will approve the proposed buyers.
Fleet Financial Group headquartered in Boston is the ninth largest bank in the nation with $69.7 billion in deposits and $104.4 billion in assets. Fleet has 1,156 branches stretching from Main to Florida.
BankBoston (BKB) is the 15th largest bank, and the oldest commercial bank in the United States. It has 473 offices in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. BankBoston has $48.5 billion in deposits and $73.5 billion in assets.
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