Bank of Montreal (BMO) has announced that it
will grow its retail banking presence in North America with the
acquisition of Marshall & Ilsley (M&I), a Wisconsin-based
bank, for $4.1bn – its largest US acquisition to date.
The president and chief executive of
BMO, Bill Downe, said that the acquisition was part of the
bank’s strategy to strengthen its businesses in the Midwest states
of North America.
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He added that the acquisition also enables the
bank to enter “other attractive markets including Minnesota,
Missouri, and Kansas, and expansion in Indiana and Wisconsin.”
M&I will merge with Bank of Montreal
subsidiary Harris Bank, headquartered in Chicago.
The transaction is expected to close before
the end of July 2011.
The bank said that it expects strong capital
rations after the acquisition and wants to raise about C$800m
($785.65m) in capital before closing the acquisition.
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By GlobalDataM&I has 374 branches across the American
Midwest, and is the 24th biggest bank in America by
market share.
Retail customers accounted for 66% of $1.2bn
in M&I’s outstanding loans portfolio as of 30 September
2010.
