First Union takes over Georgia Federal.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- First Union Corp. said it has completed the acquisition of Georgia Federal Bank from First Financial Management Corp.

First Union paid $154 million in cash for $4 billion-asset Georgia Federal, the state's largest thrift. The transaction was completed Saturday.

First Financial, which is principally in the data and transaction processing business, also received $115 million in dividends from Georgia Federal, resulting from the separate sale of First Family Financial Services, a finance company.

Including Georgia Fedral and its 57 offices, First Union National Bank of Georgia has $12 billion of assets and 197 banking offices across the state. The First Union holding company had $63.2 billion of assets and 1,238 banking offices as of March 31 in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

First Financial, which had relied on Georgia Federal to provide access to the MasterCard and Visa systems, has activated First Financial Bank to take its place.

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