Notable Mergers and Acquisitions

M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE: MTB) and Provident Bankshares Corporation (Nasdaq: PBKS) announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Provident will be acquired by M&T in a stock-for-stock transaction valued at approximately $401 million based on M&T's closing price on December 16, 2008.

M&T has $65.2 billion in assets, and has extensive operations in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. Provident, based in Baltimore, has $6.4 billion in assets. M&T will acquire 143 Provident branch offices and 198 ATMs located primarily in Maryland and Virginia, adding to M&T's current total of 177 branches and 545 ATMs in the same region. M&T also expects to gain approximately $4.6 billion in deposits ...