PNC to Expand Across Colorado, Arizona in $4.1 Billion Deal

PNC Financial Services Group will fulfill its goals for expanding across Colorado with the planned takeover of FirstBank, and the regional-banking giant will focus its branch-opening effort on other states instead, PNC Chief Executive Officer Bill Demchak said. PNC agreed to buy FirstBank for about $4.1 billion to add $26.8 billion in assets and branches in Colorado and Arizona. Colorado-based FirstBank operates 95 branches and will make PNC the top lender in Denver by retail deposits, the company said in a statement Monday. It plans to retain all of FirstBank’s locations. PNC had previously sought to open 16 locations in Colorado as part of its retail expansion. The FirstBank acquisition can now build those new branches elsewhere, Demchak said in an interview Monday after the agreement was announced. For more, Bloomberg Intelligence's Senior US Regional Banks Analyst, Herman Chan, speaks with Scarlet Fu and Alexis Christoforous. (Source: Bloomberg)