
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 16, 1990                   TAG: 9005160570
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A11   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: From staff and wire reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SOVRAN CHIEF SAYS MERGER WITH C&S EXPECTED TO PASS

A merger that will create one of the largest banks in the United States is on track for approval by state and federal regulators, the chairman of Sovran Financial Corp. said Tuesday at the company's annual stockholders' meeting in Norfolk.

Shareholders of the Norfolk-based Sovran and The Citizens and Southern Corp. of Atlanta approved the merger in February. The resulting $50 billion company, Avantor Financial Corp., would be the nation's 14th largest bank.

Albert Gornto, Sovran's chairman, said regulators in each of the nine states in which Sovran and C&S operate must approve the merger. The U.S. Small Business Administration, the federal Trade Commission, the Internal Revenue Service, several state insurance commissioners and the Federal Reserve Board also must approve the merger.

An analyst who follows Virginia banks said Monday she believes it will be mid-September at the earliest before Sovran Bank merges with Citizens & Southern of Atlanta.

Lacy Shockley of Smith Barney in New York believes regulators will want to see federal audits of the real estate portfolios of both banks before they approve the merger.

Sovran, Virginia's largest bank-holding company, currently is undergoing an audit by the Comptroller of the Currency.

Shockley said Citizens & Southern was relatively unscathed by a recent, similar examination, which the comptroller eventually will be conducting at all banks.

Citizens & Southern's first-quarter earnings equalled 64 cents a share compared to 90 cents a share a year earlier. The bank set aside a 33-cent-per-share charge as a special addition to loan loss reserve. Without that charge, earnings would have been 97 cents a share.

The merger is opposed by four community groups that claim both holding companies have failed to provide banking services to some segments of the community. Sovran and C&S have denied those charges.

The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 requires banks to make adequate banking and credit services available in the communities the banks serve.

Both companies said they have complied with the letter and spirit of the law and expect no problems in getting approval for the merger.

by CNB