PNC to Buy National City

Another one gone...

PNC Corp. said Friday that it is buying troubled regional bank National
City Corp for $2.23 a share, or a total of about $5.2 billion on PNC
stock and another $384 million in cash. PNC also said it plans to sell
$7.7 billion of preferred stock to the U.S. Treasury under the TARP
Capital Purchase Program. That investment by the Treasury will allow
the newly combined PNC and National City entity to have a roughly 10%
Tier 1 capital ratio, the company said. "The acquisition of National
City will increase our core deposit base to $180 billion, making PNC
the fifth largest U.S. bank by deposits. At a time when core funding is
key, we see our deposit strength as an important success factor,"