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Webster Branches Out
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Business New Haven
10/13/2003
By: BNH
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Webster Financial Corp. (NYSE: WBS), the holding company for Webster Bank, has reached an agreement to acquire FirstFed America Bancorp (AMEX: FAB), holding company for First Federal Savings Bank of America. The agreement is a combination cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $465 million, or $24.50 per common share of FirstFed stock, payable 60 percent in Webster stock and 40 percent in cash.
Upon completion of the acquisition, FirstFed shareholders will be entitled to receive either 0.5954 shares of Webster common stock or $24.50 in cash for each share of FirstFed common stock, pro-rated.
The combined bank would rank as the 46th largest in the U.S., with $16 billion in assets, market capitalization of $2.2 billion and a 141-branch retail footprint in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
"Our partnership with FirstFed is a union with people we know well and trust, and whose strategic goals are highly compatible with our own," said Webster CEO James C. Smith. "Together, Webster and FirstFed create a powerful franchise stretching from lower Fairfield County through Connecticut and Rhode Island to southeastern Massachusetts. The merger opens new opportunities and establishes a platform for future growth in the region."
Headquartered in Swansea, Mass., FirstFed America Bancorp is a federally chartered savings and loan holding company with $2.7 billion in assets as of June 30 and 26 branches — 19 in Massachusetts and 7 in Rhode Island.
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