Banking on consolidation

Another day, another merger and acquisition.

A sampling of the world of deal making went something like this last week:

n  PepsiCo Inc. agrees to buy Brazilian snack company Comercio de Doces Lucky Ltda.

n  Kraft Foods Inc. said it has agreed to sell its Fruit2O water and Veryfine juice brands and related assets to Sunny Delight Beverages Co.

n  Pernod Ricard plans to bid for Absolut vodka maker Vin & Sprit.

But the more interesting deal locally was the one reached in principle by Canada”™s TD Bank Financial Group. Capitalizing on a strengthening Canadian dollar against the U.S. dollar, TD Bank is picking up Commerce Bancorp Inc. and its 460 branches for $8.5 billion in cash and stock. The deal would double TD Bank”™s presence in the United States. TD Bank, one of Canada”™s five largest banks, already owns TD Banknorth, with about 600 branches in the United States, most of them in New England.

Commerce came to Fairfield County two years ago, but has been slow out of the gate in meeting its initial forecast of opening 25 branches; it so far has five. Adding to the 19 TD Banknorth already has in the county, it will become the 10^th largest bank in market share. The 19 branches had $626 million in deposits.

Commerce Bancorp was founded by Vernon Hill, emphasized customer service and referred to the branches as stores. As of June, Commerce had $16.4 billion in loans, of which  $7.5 billion were commercial and commercial real estate loans.

We”™re hopeful the welcome mat to small businesses remains under the new brand.