Merrill Lynch's 95-year run to end as BofA takes over

Merrill Lynch & Co’s 95-year run as an independent company is coming to an end as Bank of America Corp on Thursday is scheduled to complete its acquisition of the broker for about $33 billion in stock.

Bank of America, the biggest US home lender, planned to close the purchase on January 1, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said on December 11. Scana Corp, South Carolina’s biggest utility owner, will replace New York-based Merrill Lynch in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

Merrill Lynch was founded by Charles E Merrill in January 1914 and evolved into the world’s biggest brokerage, with an army of 17,000 financial advisers. After more than $50 billion of losses and writedowns tied to the collapse of the US subprime mortgage market, Merrill agreed in September to a sale, escaping the fate of bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Bank of America, led by Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis, 61, plans to cut 30,000 to 35,000 positions from the combined companies in the next three years because of the merger and a weak US economy. Merrill CEO John Thain, 53, will remain as president of investment banking, trading and brokerage.

Bank of America rose 84 cents, or 6.3 per cent, to $14.08 on Wednesday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, valuing Merrill shares at $12.10 in the stock-for-stock exchange. That’s 88 per cent less than their high of $97.53 in January 2007. Bank of America, announcing the merger on September 15, valued the deal at about $50 billion. The transaction size has declined since then, as the bank’s share price tumbled 47 per cent.

Bank of America plans on issuing 1.71 billion common shares, worth $24.1 billion at on Thursday’s price, and replacing Merrill’s preferred shares with 359,000 new Bank of America preferred shares, it said in an October 29 regulatory filing. Merrill’s preferred equity was $8.6 billion as of September 26, the brokerage said in a regulatory filing.