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Union Planters reaps Magna
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February 23, 1998: 8:19 a.m. ET
Banking company continues buying activity with $2.3 billion purchase
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Banking firm Union Planters Corp. will add to its growing holdings by acquiring Magna Group for approximately $2.3 billion in stock..
Magna is a bank holding company with 139 branches mainly in the nation's midsection, including Missouri, Illinois and Iowa.
The company is headquartered in St. Louis and 60 percent of its depositors are located in that city's metropolitan area. Magna is the third-largest bank holding company in Missouri.
Under terms of the agreement, Magna shareholders will receive 0.9686 share of Union Planters (UPC) for each of their own shares (MGR). Based on Union Planters' Friday closing price of 63-7/16, the deal is valued at $2.3 billion. Magna shares closed at 46-15/16 Friday.
Union Planters, based in Memphis, Tenn., has been a hungry acquirer of banks during the past year. In January, it announced it will buy Merchants Bancshares Inc. of Houston, Texas, the parent company of Merchants Bank, in a transaction valued at about $124 million.
Union Planters has eight other acquisitions pending totaling approximately $3 billion.
Union Planters already has operations in Missouri, including St. Louis, Cape Girardeau and Springfield. The combination between it and Magna will boast the third-largest market share in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
After all of Union Planters' pending acquisitions are completed, the company will have about $28.5 billion in assets, $19.4 billion in loans, $21.5 billion in deposits and $3 billion in shareholder equity.
The boards of both Magna and Union Planters already have approved the deal and the merger is expected to be completed during the second or third quarter this year.
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