NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) June 27, 2019--S&P Global Ratings today said that Valley National Bancorp's plan to acquire New Jersey-based Oritani Financial Inc. will benefit Valley's capital position. We view the merger and integration risks of the deal as low, since Oritani's franchise is within Valley's current footprint. However, we view the increased concentration in commercial real estate (CRE) following the merger as a slight offset to these positives. The acquisition doesn't change our ratings on Valley (BBB/Stable/--). The deal, which will be in the form of an all-stock transaction, will help boost Valley's recently strained capital ratios, including its pro forma common equity tier 1 ratio, which we expect to increase to 9.2% from 8.5% as of March
