(Reuters) - BB&T Corporation said on Thursday it will buy SunTrust Banks Inc for $28.24 billion (21.88 billion pounds) in an all-stock deal, creating the sixth largest U.S. bank based on assets and deposits.
The companies called it a merger of equals, valued at $66 billion.
SunTrust shareholders will receive 1.295 shares of BB&T for each share they own. The per share deal value of $62.85 is at a 7 percent premium to SunTrust's closing price on Wednesday, according to a Reuters calculation.
BB&T shareholders will own 57 percent of the combined company and SunTrust will own the rest.
The combined bank will be headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and will have around $442 billion in assets, $301 billion in loans and $324 billion in deposits.
The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019.
BB&T was advised by RBC Capital, while its legal counsel was Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Goldman Sachs and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey were its financial advisors and Sullivan & Cromwell was the legal counsel to SunTrust.
(Reporting By Aparajita Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
