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Monday, September 15, 2008

Bank of America eats Merrill Lynch

The monster financial conglomerate that is Bank of America is getting even bigger with the acquisition of Merrill Lynch, one of Wall Street's most storied brokerages:
In a rushed bid to ride out the storm sweeping American finance, 94-year-old Merrill Lynch & Co. agreed late Sunday to sell itself to Bank of America Corp. for $50 billion.

The deal, worked out in 48 hours of frenetic negotiating, could instantly reshape the U.S. banking landscape, making the nation's prime behemoth even bigger. Early Monday, the two firms said the directors of both companies had agreed to the deal, which will be subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.
If you're keeping score at home, you know that this is just the latest in a long series of Bank of America takeovers. Every few months, the company seems to be enlarging itself in dramatic fashion.

Here's a review of some of Bank of America's largest twenty first century meals, based in part on information provided by Wikipedia:

October 27th, 2003: Bank of America buys FleetBoston Financial for $47 billion in an all-stock deal, making it the United States' largest bank by deposits. The deal eventually closes in 2004.

July 13th, 2004: Bank of America buys the Kentucky-based National Processing Company for $1.4 billion from National City Corporation.

June 30th, 2005: Bank of America buys credit card giant MBNA for $35 billion in cash and stock. Bank of America inherits forty million U.S. accounts and nearly $140 billion in outstanding balances.

November 20th, 2006: Bank of America buys the United States Trust Company from the Charles Schwab Corporation for $3.3 billion.

September 14th, 2007: Bank of America buys ABN AMRO North America, LaSalle Bank Corporation, and LaSalle Corporate Finance from ABN AMRO for $21 billion, giving Bank of America a staggering $1.7 trillion in assets. The acquisition makes Bank of America the largest bank in the Chicago area. Across the Midwest (in Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana) BofA adds 411 branches, 17,000 commercial bank clients, 1.4 million retail customers and 1,500 ATMs.

January 11th, 2008: Bank of America buys Countrywide Financial for $4.1 billion. Officially, Countrywide is merged with Red Oak Merger Corporation, an independent subsidiary created by Bank of America in an attempt to control liability. As of the end of last year, Countrywide provided services for nine million mortgages collectively worth $1.4 trillion.

September 15th, 2008: Bank of America buys Merrill Lynch for $29 a share, making it the largest financial services company in the world.

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