WHAT'LL WACHOVIA WANT ON ITS PLATE? CRESTAR? SIGNET?

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 2, 1993                   TAG: 9303020096
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C.                                LENGTH: Medium
WHAT'LL WACHOVIA WANT ON ITS PLATE? CRESTAR? SIGNET?
With North Carolina's two biggest banks laying claim to first and second place in Virginia, attention is turning to Wachovia Corp. and its inevitable plans for the march north.
"I don't think there are any secrets," said Guy Ford, a bank analyst at Scott & Stringfellow Investment Corp. in Norfolk. "Wachovia would like to be in Virginia."
How much pressure Wachovia feels to move, given the activity of N.C. rivals NationsBank Corp. and First Union Corp., both of Charlotte, is unclear. But the question never has been "if;" it has been "when," "who" and "how much."
NationsBank, through its 1991 purchase of C&S/Sovran Corp., already is Virginia's biggest bank. First Union soon will be in a tie for No. 2 with Richmond-based Crestar Financial Corp.
But "Wachovia follows its own strategy as far as interstate expansion," said John Medlin, Wachovia's chairman and chief executive. "We do not let the actions of others dictate that strategy."
John Heffern, a bank analyst with Alex. Brown & Sons Inc. in Baltimore, said Wachovia focuses first on profitability, then on growth. "All that said, I'm sure Wachovia is trying to do a deal."
The Virginia bank generally viewed as most compatible with Wachovia's blue-chip corporate lending culture is Crestar, with about $12.1 billion in assets and a high concentration of its business in Virginia.
Crestar rival Signet Banking Corp., also with $12.1 billion in assets and based in Richmond, is the other big Virginia bank mentioned as a Wachovia mate.
Last week, rumors floated around Virginia banking circles that an unidentified suitor was examining Signet's financial records. Signet declined comment.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB