Wachovia Bank
Wachovia Bank, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, purchased Birmingham's SouthTrust Bank in 2004. The company operated a nationwide financial services network with assets of over $706 billion and deposits of over $408 billion. In September 2008, Wachovia had the largest deposit share of any bank in Birmingham with 44 branches and employed 1,600.
In 2008, Wachovia was hit hard in the 2008 national financial crisis, stemming primarily from the 2006 acquisition of California mortgage lender Golden West Financial Corp, which specialized in sub-prime mortgages. On September 29, 2008, Wachovia Corp agreed to sell its banking operations to New York-based Citigroup, Inc. in a takeover orchestrated with help from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Former Southtrust shareholders would have been left with stock in a company that consisted of Wachovia Securities retail brokerage and Evergreen Investments. However, on October 3, Wells Fargo Co. of San Francisco, California announced that it would be acquiring the complete Wachovia Corp portfolio, without assistance from the FDIC, for $7 per share.
References
- Hubbard, Russell (September 30, 2008) "Wachovia sells banking operation to Citigroup." Birmingham News
- "Wells Fargo, not Citi, will buy Wachovia" (October 3, 2008) Birmingham News