BB&T, SunTrust win U.S. antitrust approval to merge (updated)

Beacon Financial

08/11/2019 16:54

(Adds details on divestitures, comment from companies, byline)
    By Diane Bartz
    WASHINGTON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - BB&T Corp  BBT.N  and SunTrust
Banks Inc  STI.N  have won U.S. antitrust approval to merge on
condition that they divest 28 branches in three states, the
Justice Department said on Friday.
    The merger of equals, announced in February, will create the
sixth largest U.S. bank holding company, SunTrust has said.
    It still needs approval from the Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System and the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation, the department said.
    To win approval, the companies agreed to divest 28 branches
in Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia with about $2.3 billion
in deposits.
    SunTrust and BB&T have agreed to sell 30 SunTrust branches
with about $2.4 billion in deposits to First Horizon  FHNTB.UL ,
the companies said in a joint statement. First Horizon itself is
in a deal to merge with Iberiabank Corp  IBKC.O .  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN27K0H0
    

 (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and
Richard Chang)
 ((Diane.Bartz@thomsonreuters.com; 1 202 898 8313;))