DBRS Places Susquehanna Bancshares, Inc. – Senior at BBB (high): Ratings Under Review Positive

DBRS, Inc (DBRS) has today placed all ratings of Susquehanna Bancshares, Inc. (Susquehanna or the Company), and its rated subsidiaries, Under Review with Positive Implications. This includes the Company’s Issuer & Senior Debt rating of BBB (high). The ratings action follows the announcement that Susquehanna has agreed to be acquired by BB&T Corporation (BB&T) in a stock and cash transaction valued at approximately $2.5 billion. The acquisition, subject to regulatory and Susquehanna shareholder approval, is expected to close in 2H15.

The Under Review with Positive implications for Susquehanna’s ratings reflects DBRS’s view that Susquehanna will benefit from BB&T’s solid financial fundamentals and ample resources. DBRS expects to conclude the review upon the close of the transaction, which will likely result in an alignment of Susquehanna’s ratings with those of the acquirer including BB&T’s Issuer & Senior Debt rating of A (high).

Susquehanna, a bank holding company with headquarters in Lititz, Pennsylvania reported approximately $18.6 billion in assets as of September 30, 2014.

Notes:
All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

The principal applicable methodology is the Global Methodology for Rating Banks and Banking Organisations (June 2014). Other applicable methodologies include the DBRS Criteria – Support Assessments for Banks and Banking Organisations (January 2014) and DBRS Criteria: Rating Bank Capital Securities – Subordinated, Hybrid, Preferred & Contingent Capital Securities (December 2013). These can be found at: http://www.dbrs.com/about/methodologies.

The primary sources of information used for this rating include company documents and SNL Financial. DBRS considers the information available to it for the purposes of providing this rating was of satisfactory quality.

This rating is endorsed by DBRS Ratings Limited for use in the European Union.

Lead Analyst: Mark Nolan
Rating Committee Chair: Roger Lister
Initial Rating Date: 7 March 2005
Most Recent Rating Update: 11 December 2013

For additional information on this rating, please refer to the linking document under Related Research.