Canada's TD Bank extends US reach, buys Commerce Bancorp.

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Canada's TD Bank Financial Group unveiled a multibillion-dollar deal Tuesday to buy US rival Commerce Bancorp that extends its reach into the United States.

TD Bank, also known as Toronto-Dominion, said it plans to acquire the New Jersey-based regional bank in a 75 percent stock and 25 percent cash deal worth 8.5 billion US dollars.

Commerce Bancorp management approved the friendly takeover offer. Its shareholders will get 0.4142 TD Bank shares and 10.50 dollars per share.

Canadian banks have increasingly sought takeovers abroad, especially in the United States, after the government banned Canadian banking mergers in the late 1990s.

The addition of Commerce Bank would give the Toronto-based TD Bank more than 2,000 branches in North...