BB&T to Buy National Penn Bancshares

BB&T Corp. has announced that it is buying Pennsylvania-based National Penn Bancshare for roughly $1.8 billion, its second purchase of a lender in that state in less than a year.

Winston-Salem-based BB&T said the cash-and-stock deal will significantly expand its footprint in the Mid-Atlantic region and make it the fourth-largest bank by deposits in Pennsylvania.

National Penn, headquartered in Allentown, Pa., has $9.6 billion in assets, $6.7 billion in deposits and 124 banking offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland.

The announcement comes after BB&T announced in November plans to buy Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna Bancshares in a cash-and-stock deal worth approximately $2.5 billion. That deal closed earlier this month.

“The acquisition of National Penn provides a tremendous opportunity to strengthen our franchise in Pennsylvania and continue building the scale necessary to operate efficiently and with high quality service,” BB&T CEO Kelly King said in a statement.

The deal still needs approval from regulators and National Penn shareholders. It is expected to close in the middle of 2016.

The deal marks BB&T’s third announcement to buy another lender in less than a year. In September, BB&T announced plans to purchase The Bank of Kentucky for about $363 million in stock and cash. That purchase was completed in June.

The Bank of Kentucky purchase marked BB&T’s first announcement of an acquisition of another lender acquiring Florida’s BankAtlantic in 2012.