Oct. 24, 2005: Sovereign Bancorp Inc. agreed to buy Brooklyn-based Independence Community Bank for $3.6 billion. To partially finance the deal, the Redding, Pa., acquirer agreed to sell a 19.9% stake to Spain's Banco Santander Central Hispano SA for $2.4 billion. The agreement with Banco Santander irritated shareholders who were led by hedge fund Relational Investors LLC. While Relational's Ralph Whitworth was unable to stop the Banco Santander deal, he succeeded in his efforts to join Sovereign's board, where he campaigned for the ouster of long-time CEO Jay Sidhu, the architect who transformed Sovereign from a Pennsylvania savings bank into a regional banking giant that spans from Philadelphia to Boston, thereby making it rather ironic that the deal that undid Sidhu's career was named Independence. — Matthew Wurtzel
See story about merger announcement from TheDeal.com
See story about Pennsylvania legal changes from The Deal newsweekly
See story about Sidhu's recent ouster from TheDeal.com
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