JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s victory in the competitive auction for First Republic Bank drew praise from analysts as a historic deal that will grow the larger bank’s wealth-management franchise.
In the second-largest U.S.-brokered bank deal since Washington Mutual in 2008, JPMorgan Chase JPM announced Monday it would buy First Republic Bank FRC in what CEO Jamie Dimon described as a transaction to put an end to the regional banking blow-up that has dominated the business since early March. UBS analyst Erika Najarian reiterated a buy rating on JPMorgan Chase and said the acquisition of First Republic will provide a “tailwind for JPM shares and the elegant solution the sector needed to put acute liquidity fears to bed.”
Moody’s analyst Peter E. Nerby cited “the complementary fit of First Republic’s franchises within the wealth management platform of JPM as well as the structural benefits of the FDIC assisted purchase and assumption transaction that help offset the execution risk.”