Huntington Bancshares to Acquire Cadence. Bank Mergers Are Back.

Bank mergers have climbed to their highest point since 2021 this year. (Dreamstime)

Huntington Bancshares will acquire Cadence Bank in a $7.4 billion all-stock deal that adds to this year’s new wave of bank mergers.

Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington , which primarily operates in the Midwest, is expanding across Texas and the South, where Cadence has more than 390 locations. As of Friday’s close, Huntington had a market capitalization of $25.2 billion, while Cadence was valued at $6.7 billion.

Huntington stock slid 2.5% in early Monday. Cadence was up 4.9%.

The Trump administration scrapped Biden-era merger guidelines earlier this year and pushed for faster regulatory reviews of bank deals. The moves have helped boost mergers in the industry to their highest point since 2021 in terms of deal value.

Huntington and Cadence expect to close their deal by the first quarter of 2026. Cadence branches will operate under the Huntington brand once the merger is complete, the companies said.

Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com