National City Being Bought By Pittsburgh Bank

The deal would save the ailing Cleveland-based bank. PNC said the transaction values National City at $2.23 per share -- a value roughly 19 percent below the Thursday closing price of $2.75. Each National City shareholder would receive 0.0392 PNC share for each National City share. PNC would buy National City with about $5.2 billion of its shares, and $384 million of cash payable to some owners of warrants. The Pittsburgh-based bank would sell $7.7 billion of
preferred shares and warrants to the U.S. Treasury under the Troubled Assets Relief Program. ational City posted a $729 million quarterly loss earlier
this week. In an interview on Tuesday, Chief Executive Peter Raskind Told Reuters the economic environment remains tough. "It probably gets worse before it gets better," he said. (Reporting by Dan Wilchins, editing by Gerald E. McCormick - Reuters)