Bank of America on Thursday finalized its purchase of Merrill Lynch, creating the largest U.S. bank. The closing allows Bank of America to bypass JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup in size, giving it about $2.7 trillion of assets. Bank of America had said it expected to issue 1.71 billion common shares, equal to $24.1 billion, plus 359,100 preferred shares in the merger. Merrill shareholders received 0.8595 of a Bank of America common share for each of their common shares. The transaction ends more than 94 years of independence for Merrill, after a year when the five top Wall Street banks were bought, went bankrupt, or changed their business structures. The takeover includes Merrill's brokerage, credit card, investment banking, mortgage and wealth management operations, plus its deposit base. Bank of America also takes over Merrill's nearly 50 percent stake in the powerful money manager BlackRock Incorporated.
