CHICAGO - Several months after raising $7 billion in cash in hopes of avoiding a sale, the financially struggling Cleveland-based National City Corp. is again reportedly in talks about a possible sale, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
Reported bidders on Ohio's largest bank included Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and Toronto-based Bank of Nova Scotia.
The report boosted the bank's stock in mid-day trading yesterday to $2.73 from $2.23 at close Wednesday.
If sold, National City would be the latest bank consolidation as the financial industry struggles with fallout from the U.S. housing market. With a heavy presence in Ohio, Michigan, and Florida - states particularly hard hit by falling home prices and rising mortgage defaults - NatCity has taken a financial beating over the last few quarters.
In April the bank announced it had raised $7 billion in cash from private equity firm Corsair Capital LLC and some of the bank's existing large institutional investors. The capital infusion came about a month after NatCity hired Goldman, Sachs & Co. as an advisory firm to help it consider various "strategic alternatives," including a possible sale. At the time, two Ohio competitors, Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Securities Inc. and Cleveland-based KeyCorp, were reported to be top bidders.
Unlike the bank's corporate and deposit business, NatCity's public finance department - which is part of its broker-dealer subsidiary NatCity Investments Inc. - is relatively small, with only a handful of bankers in the Cleveland office.
