In Brief: Chase Buying PNC's Corporate Trust Unit

Chase Manhattan Corp. said Tuesday it would buy the corporate trust business of PNC Bank Corp., including 6,000 accounts and administration of $55 billion of corporate and government debt.

Terms of the transaction, scheduled to close in the fourth quarter pending regulatory approval, were not disclosed.

The unit's clients include corporations and governments in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Delaware. The deal does not include PNC's institutional trust business, which includes employee benefits, pension and 401(k) plans, and custody.

PNC, Pittsburgh, said it was leaving the scale-driven business because it would have had to make huge investments in technology to keep pace and that it chose to devote its resources elsewhere.

Chase already ranks as one of the top three banks in corporate trust, with $2 trillion in assets under administration for state and local governments and pension funds.

The $367 billion-asset banking company said it would hire most of the PNC unit's 85 employees and open offices in Cincinnati and Louisville, Ky.

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