The top executives of BB&T Corp. and First Horizon National Corp. said Wednesday that they are interested in acquisitions but not necessarily ones involving failed institutions.
Kelly King, the chairman and chief executive of BB&T, of Winston-Salem, N.C., said it is seeing very few failed banks that are big enough to be worthwhile to the $163.7 billion-asset company. "We're not particularly interested in $300-to-$400 million" asset banks closed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., he told attendees at a conference hosted by UBS AG.
Bryan Jordan, the CEO of the $25.9 billion-asset First Horizon, said the Memphis company's options are limited because there have been "few opportunities" in Tennessee. He said at the same conference that there could be more "regular-way M&A" for banking companies later this year or in early 2011.
King and Jordan pointed out that the FDIC is getting more leverage in takeover negotiations, as more bidders step up for failed institutions, resulting in less-generous loss-sharing agreements.
