In Brief: Amsouth Closes Acquisition of 1st American

Amsouth Bancorp said Friday it had closed the acquisition of First American Corp. for $5 billion.

Amsouth now has $42 billion in assets, 660 branches, and a network of 1,365 automated teller machines. Former chairman and chief executive officer of First American, Dennis C. Bottorff, is now Amsouth chairman. C. Dowd Ritter will remain president and CEO of Amsouth; he will also become chairman in January 2001, a post he held until Friday.

Amsouth said it would convert First American customer accounts and systems during the first two quarters of 1999, tackling one geographic piece of the company's network at a time. Conversions will begin in Louisiana in February and include accounts at Deposit Guaranty Corp., the Jackson, Miss., bank bought by First American last year.

-- Laura Mandaro

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