The hot news this week is the announcement that Nationwide BS and its smaller rival Portman BS are to merge into a mega-mutual (member-owned) society with over thirteen million members.
Although this deal has been described as a merger, it smells like a takeover to me, because the Nationwide is the largest building society, whereas Portman is only ranked third. What’s more, Nationwide members won’t receive windfall payments from the deal, whereas 1.8 million Portman members can look forward to payouts of at least £200 apiece. Finally, the new business will be branded as Nationwide BS, so this is surely closer to a takeover than a merger!…
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