In Brief: Fifth Third Buying a Mortgage Bank

Fifth Third Bancorp said Thursday that it had agreed to buy W. Lyman Case & Co., a Columbus, Ohio-based commercial mortgage banking company.

Case provided more than $800 million of financing for real estate transactions last year. Its $2 billion portfolio includes more than 450 loans.

Doug Burgess, Fifth Third Bank's vice president of commercial real estate, said the acquisition will allow Fifth Third to offer long-term real estate financing in addition to the construction and mini-permanent loans it now supplies.

The deal is expected to be completed in the second quarter. Its terms have not been disclosed.

Fifth Third Bank is acquiring three other companies: Ohio Company, a full-service broker-dealer; State Savings Company, a privately held thrift with $2.8 billion of assets; and Citizen Federal, a $3.3 billion thrift headquartered in Dayton, Ohio.

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