PNC Financial Services Group Inc. agreed to buy Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA’s banking operations in the U.S. for $11.6 billion, vaulting past rivals to become the country’s largest regional bank.
PNC’s purchase uses the $14 billion it raised earlier this year from selling its stake in BlackRock Inc. to fuel an expansion into Texas and California and compete with U.S. retail-banking giants. For BBVA, the deal sheds a recent source of writedowns while giving the Spanish lender capital to pursue acquisitions of its own.
