THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 31, 1995 TAG: 9508310433
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
Chase Manhattan sits on the growing list of banks once on NationsBank's wish list and now belonging to someone else.
In April, NationsBank president Hugh McColl Jr. quashed a rumor by saying NationsBank, of Charlotte, had no plans to discuss a merger with Chase. But a few analysts Monday were saying what a good fit Chase would have been.
``I think that would have been a natural extension for them,'' said Christopher Marinac, who follows banks at Interstate/Johnson Lane.
Chase Manhattan said Monday it agreed to be acquired by Chemical.
The merger will make it harder for McColl to make NationsBank America's No. 1 bank. NationsBank, with pending acquisitions, has assets of about $190 billion; Chase and Chemical combined will have assets of about $297 billion.
``They lost in my eyes two (major) potential targets, First Chicago and now this,'' said George Salem, an analyst with Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co. First Chicago announced a merger of equals last month with Detroit's NBD. First Chicago NBD would have assets of about $120 billion - too big for NationsBank to swallow, analysts say.
Talk also linked NationsBank to Bank of Boston and to First Fidelity, being bought by First Union. by CNB