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On October 27, 2003, we announced a definitive agreement to merge with FleetBoston Financial Corporation (FleetBoston). The merger is expected to create a banking institution with a truly national scope, with an increased presence in America's growth and wealth markets and leading market shares throughout the Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, Midwest and West regions of the United States. The merger will be a stock-for-stock transaction with a purchase price currently estimated to be approximately $46.0 billion. Each share of FleetBoston common stock will be exchanged for 0.5553 of a share of our common stock, resulting in the issuance of approximately 600 million shares of our common stock. FleetBoston shareholders will receive cash instead of any fractional shares of our common stock that would have otherwise been issued at the completion of the merger. The agreement has been approved by both boards of directors and is subject to customary regulatory and shareholder approvals. The closing is expected in April of 2004. At the time of the merger announcement, we anticipated repurchasing approximately 67 million shares through 2004 and 23 million shares in 2005, net of option exercises, as a result of the merger. The effect on our liquidity of this transaction is expected to be minimal.
In connection with the merger, we have been developing a plan to integrate our operations with FleetBoston's. The integration costs have been estimated to be $800 million after-tax, or $1.3 billion pre-tax. The specific details of this plan will continue to be refined over the next several months.
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