Delaware’s Wilmington Trust Company Agrees to Sell Itself for $351 Million

Wilmington Trust, the 107-year-old bank that financed companies during the Great Depression, agreed to sell itself to New York-based M&T Bank.

Although Wilmington was the leading bank in Delaware, it too was hit by hard times. Due to souring loans, Wilmington has reported six straight quarterly losses and its stock has dropped 42% this year.

M&T offered to buy Wilmington for about half of the value of its stock because of Wilmington’s current losses as well as an estimated $1 billion in remaining losses from Wilmington’s loan portfolio. M&T understands and is comfortable with the risks involved in this transaction and is fully committed to the sale.

See David Mildenberg and Zachary R. Mider, M&T to Acquire Wilmington Trust for $351 Million, Bloomberg, Nov. 1, 2010.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this to my attention.