Bulletin: Fifth Third Bancorp Ratings Are Unaffected By Its Announced Acquisition Of MB Financial Corp.

NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) May 22, 2018--S&P Global Ratings today said that its ratings on Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB; BBB+/Stable/A-2) are unchanged following the bank's May 21st announcement that it plans to acquire Chicago-based MB Financial Corp. (MBFI) for $4.7 billion. MBFI, which we do not rate, is a commercial lender with 91 offices in the Chicago metropolitan area. With year-end 2017 assets of $20.0 billion, MBFI will add about 14% to FITB's assets of $141.5 billion. We expect this acquisition will deepen FITB's commercial and retail banking franchise in the Chicago metropolitan area and FITB will keep the top management of MBFI in place. However, we also believe the acquisition introduces some execution and regulatory risks for FITB.

...NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) May 22, 2018--S&P Global Ratings today said that its ratings on Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB; ###+/Stable/A-2) are unchanged following the bank's May 21st announcement that it plans to acquire Chicago-based MB Financial Corp. (MBFI) for $4.7 billion. MBFI, which we do not rate, is a commercial lender with 91 offices in the Chicago metropolitan area. With year-end 2017 assets of $20.0 billion, MBFI will add about 14% to FITB's assets of $141.5 billion. We expect this acquisition will deepen FITB's commercial and retail banking franchise in the Chicago metropolitan area and FITB will keep the top management of MBFI in place. However, we also believe the acquisition introduces some execution and regulatory risks for FITB. Nevertheless, we do not view the acquisition for FITB as transformative because we do not expect that the acquisition will meaningfully change FITB's loan and deposit mix, nor alter its business strategy. The merger, which is subject to customary...

Bulletin