News In Brief

By Compiled from wire service reportsRobert Kilborn and Stephanie Cook

May 15, 2001

SunTrust Banks Inc. made an unsolicited $14.7 billion bid for Wachovia Corp. - an attempt that could derail First Union Corp.'s planned $12.5 billion acquisition of the Winston-Salem, N.C., bank. Atlanta-based SunTrust aims to build the largest financial franchise in the Southeast. If completed, the purchase would create a bank with almost $180 billion in assets, branches in seven states, and more than 7.5 million retail customers, SunTrust said. The bidding war for Wachovia comes after it agreed last month to be bought by First Union of Charlotte, N.C. That deal would result in the US's fourth-biggest banking firm.

Kerr-McGee Corp. agreed to pay $1.3 billion in cash and stock for HS Resources Inc., a San Francisco-based oil and gas exploration and production company. Kerr-McGee also will assume $450 million in debt. HS Resources operates mostly in Colorado's Denver-Julesburg Basin, the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast, and the northern Rocky Mountains. Kerr-McGee's headquarters are in Oklahoma City.