PNC to Buy Riggs for $779 Million

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. said it agreed to buy Riggs National Corp. in a $779-million deal that would close Riggs’ international and embassy banking business that led to a $25-million fine and government scrutiny over its treatment of the accounts of dictators and diplomats.

Pittsburgh-based PNC is a regional banking powerhouse more than 12 times bigger than Riggs, an old-line Washington institution with a virtual monopoly on business with the capital’s diplomatic community.

The deal values Riggs’ shares at $24.25 each, a 7% premium over their Thursday close, but Riggs shares finished up only 5 cents, or 0.2%, at $22.72 on Nasdaq. PNC shares slipped 67 cents, or 1.3%, to $50.56 on the New York Stock Exchange.