On July 26, 2017, Valley National Bancorp (Valley) announced that it had entered into a merger agreement to acquire USAmeriBancorp Inc. The acquisition will increase the percentage of Valley's assets based in Florida and the already high concentration of its loans in commercial real estate (CRE). We are placing our ratings on Valley and its wholly owned subsidiary, Valley National Bank, on CreditWatch with negative implications. The CreditWatch placement reflects our view that we could lower our ratings on Valley given its increased exposure to Florida and higher concentration in CRE loans. On July 26, 2017, S&P Global Ratings placed its ratings on Valley National Bancorp, including its 'BBB+' long-term issuer credit rating, 'BBB' subordinated debt rating, and 'BB+' preferred
