PNC Financial Services Group said Friday it completed the sale of its stake in money manager Blackrock Inc. for some $14.4 billion.
The Pittsburgh-based bank sold 31.6 million shares of common and preferred stock through a registered offering at $420 per share. It also sold 2.65 million shares back to Blackrock at $414.96 a share. The bank retained 500,000 shares that it plans to contribute to the PNC Foundation by the end of the second quarter.
PNC announced Monday that it was selling its roughly 22% stake in Blackrock, saying the time was right to unlock the value of the investment. The move gives the bank a large stash of cash that it could use for acquisitions.
PNC CEO William Demchak said Monday that selling the stake would leave the bank “very well-positioned to take advantage of potential investment opportunities that history has shown can arise in disrupted markets.”
During the 2008 financial crisis, PNC took over ailing National City Bank in Cleveland. The fall of the 163-year-old institution was a coup for PNC, transforming this region’s biggest bank into a superpower and one of the top 10 financial institutions in the nation.
Patricia Sabatini: PSabatini@post-gazette.com; 412-263-3066.
First Published: May 15, 2020, 3:45 p.m.
