Bank of America to Acquire LaSalle Bank

Bank of America will pay $21 billion in cash to ABN AMRO. After a return of $5 billion in excess capital, the net cost is $16 billion.

The purchase will significantly deepen Bank of America's Chicago presence and add LaSalle's 17,000 commercial banking clients, 1.4 million retail customers, 411 banking centers and 1,500 ATMs in the Chicago area, Michigan and Indiana. It also will mark Bank of America's retail branch entry in Michigan, where it will have 264 offices and be the largest bank with a 23 percent deposit market share. LaSalle also has six banking offices in Indiana.

In the last four years, Bank of America has grown its retail presence in Chicago from a single financial center to 56 locations. Once combined with LaSalle's 141 Chicago area offices, Bank of America will have more than 14 percent of the deposit market share in metropolitan Chicago. LaSalle is a top- 20 U.S. bank holding company, with $113 billion total assets.

"In LaSalle, we see a compelling opportunity to fill in a key gap in our national franchise and build relationships with thousands of new customers in retail, private banking, wealth management and commercial and corporate banking," said Kenneth D. Lewis, Bank of America's chairman and chief executive officer. "LaSalle customers will share in the most extensive retail franchise in the nation, have access to a leading innovator in financial services and will benefit from Bank of America's commitment to the communities it serves."

"Bank of America is a tremendous organization for which I have the utmost respect," said LaSalle Bank Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Norman R. Bobins. "I look forward to working with them."