Bank of America Corp. has been working overtime on the M&A front, looking
to
seal its deal for ABN Amro Bank NV unit, LaSalle Bank Corp., and reaching
an agreement Thursday to buy CU Electronic Transaction Services of Canada.
The Wall Street Journal reports that BofA and a group composed of Banco
Santander Central Hispano
SA,
Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc and Fortis are close to agreeing on a price
each would pay for parts of LaSalle. The deal would
reportedly give RBS LaSalle's commercial business, Michigan branches, head
quarter building and brand name. The 141 LaSalle retail branches based in
Chicago would go to BofA.
Meanwhile, BofA's purchase of CU Electronic, the largest MasterCard credit
card issuer for credit unions in Canada, will expand its credit card
business north of the border. Terms of the deal were not revealed. The
deal follows BofA's big push into credit cards in 2005 when it purchased MBNA
Corp., the Delaware-based credit card giant, for
$35
billion. —Gerald Magpily
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