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Seeking to diversify following its public offering in May, EverBank Financial (EVER) in Jacksonville, Fla., announced Monday that it is buying a commercial lending unit from GE Capital for $2.5 billion in cash.
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Wells Fargo (WFC) has agreed to buy a subscription finance portfolio with $6 billion in commitments from WestLB, European commercial bank based in Germany.
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Making good on its promise to bulk up in asset management, City National Bank (CYN) in Los Angeles announced Wednesday that it is buying Rochdale Investment Management in New York and combining it with its asset management subsidiary.
April 25
EverBank Financial's (EVER) deal for a lending arm of GE Capital this week was the latest crack in the thawing market for U.S. and overseas loans.
The Jacksonville, Fla.,
Such deals are ripe for the picking as regulatory and economic upheaval prompt diversified financial institutions stateside and abroad to slim down, experts say. They present a welcome opportunity for U.S. banks that are highly liquid and eager to grow assets in the face of soft demand and depressed rates.
"You're seeing some of this stuff happen," says Peyton Green, a senior research analyst with the Sterne Agee & Leach brokerage firm in Birmingham, Ala. "For a variety of reasons, it fits well" with banks' strategic goals.
Line-of-business and loan deals are the only M&A options for megabanks like Citi and Wells, and their best options are in Europe because of business and regulatory reasons. Wells in the past two months
For regional banks such as EverBank, loan deals are also about diversification.
The $2.4 billion in performing business property loans it is to acquire from GE Capital
City National of Los Angeles has taken a similar tack. In April it agreed to buy
City National Chief Executive Officer Russell Goldsmith has said both deals would enhance and diversify its existing equipment loan and asset management businesses. It completed
In June, Ocwen closed its
