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FleetBoston buys Summit
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October 1, 2000: 10:34 p.m. ET
Agrees to buy N.J. bank in $7B deal that expands Northeast footprint
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Looking to expand its presence in the New York metro area, FleetBoston Financial Corporation announced late Sunday it will buy Summit Bancorp in a $7 billion stock deal.
Fleet will exchange 1.02 of its own shares for every share of Princeton, N.J.-based Summit, an arrangement that values Summit at $39.78 per share. That price reflects a 15.7 percent premium over its Friday closing price of $34.38.
 Summit (SUB: Research, Estimates) operates over 500 branches in New Jersey, Connecticut and eastern Pennsylvania. It holds $39 billion in assets, making it the fourth largest bank in New Jersey by deposits.
FleetBoston (FBF: Research, Estimates), the nation's No. 8 bank which was created by last year's merger of Fleet Financial and BankBoston Corp., has 1,250 branches in the Northeast, mostly in the New England states. The Summit acquisition greatly expands its footprint in the regions surrounding New York City. Boston-based Fleet has $181 billion in assets.
"Summit has a formidable presence in the attractive New Jersey market," said Terrence Murray, Fleet chairman and CEO, in a statement. "This transaction is an excellent geographic fit."
Fleet said the acquisition will add immediately to earnings. It is expected to close in the first quarter of 2001.
The two companies will formally announce the deal at a noon press conference Monday in New York City.
News of a possible merger first emerged last Tuesday. Since then, Summit shares have climbed over 40 percent.
Andy Collins, banking analyst with ING Barings, said last week anything above $40 per share for Summit would be too high, while anything below $35 would be a great price for FleetBoston. 
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Fleet
Summit Bank
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