PNC to Expand Across Colorado, Arizona in $4.1 Billion Deal

PNC Financial Services Group will fulfill its goals for expanding across Colorado with the planned takeover of FirstBank, and the regional-banking giant will focus its branch-opening effort on other states instead, PNC Chief Executive Officer Bill Demchak said.

Pittsburgh-based PNC agreed to buy FirstBank for about $4.1 billion to add $26.8 billion in assets and branches in Colorado and Arizona. Lakewood, Colorado-based FirstBank operates 95 branches and will make PNC the top lender in Denver by retail deposits, the company said in a statement Monday. It plans to retain all of FirstBank’s locations.

PNC had previously sought to open 16 locations in Colorado as part of its retail expansion. The FirstBank acquisition can now build those new branches elsewhere, Demchak said in an interview Monday after the agreement was announced.

The FirstBank acquisition will triple the number of PNC branches in Colorado, giving the combined company more than 15% of deposits in the state, according to an investor presentation. Population and household-income growth in Colorado and Arizona is forecast to outpace the national average, which is expected to give PNC faster retail deposit growth, the bank said.

For more, Bloomberg Intelligence's Senior US Regional Banks Analyst, Herman Chan, speaks with Scarlet Fu and Alexis Christoforous.

The FirstBank acquisition will triple the number of PNC branches in Colorado, giving the combined company more than 15% of deposits in the state, according to an investor presentation. Population and household-income growth in Colorado and Arizona is forecast to outpace the national average, which is expected to give PNC faster retail deposit growth, the bank said.

At an investor conference in June, Demchak spoke of the importance of scale in retail banking as large rivals ramp up spending on marketing and technology and place branches across the US.

“There’s going to be a handful of winners in this country and a lot of losers, and we’re going to be one of those winners,” Demchak said at the time. “That’s what scale means.”

PNC’s total assets will approach $600 billion after the acquisition, bringing it closer in size to the largest regional bank, U.S. Bancorp. The industry is expecting a wave of consolidation thanks to the administration’s greater openness to large mergers and acquisitions, and regional banks are pursuing scale to cope with the heavy costs of technology upgrades and regulatory compliance.

FirstBank investors can elect to receive PNC stock or cash, according to the statement. The deal includes a fixed number of about 13.9 million PNC shares and $1.2 billion in cash.

The transaction is expected to be completed early next year. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. were co-financial advisers to FirstBank, and Sullivan & Cromwell was lead legal adviser.

Wells Fargo & Co. advised PNC. Fernando Rivas, CEO of Wells Fargo’s corporate and investment banking division, was a key adviser on the deal, whom Demchak said he has known for about 30 years from the time when they both worked at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

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