People’s United Bank buys Farmington Bank in $544 million deal
The parent company of People’s United Bank announced this week that it is buying the holding company of Farmington Bank in an all-stock transaction valued at $544 million. The deal consolidates two Connecticut banks that have moved into the Western Massachusetts market in recent years and continues a longtime trend of banks buying each other out to gain market share in a marketplace that is not growing. Farmington Bank, founded in Farmington, Connecticut, in 1851, moved into the Western Massachusetts market four years ago, opening a West Springfield branch in 2014 and one in East Longmeadow a year later.