NEW YORK — The battle for control of troubled bank Wachovia tilted toward Wells Fargo on Sunday as a state appeals court blocked a lower-court ruling that had favored rival bidder Citigroup.
At stake are the $339 billion in Wachovia deposits and its network of more than 3,300 branches throughout the country that would solidify the winner as being in the top tier of U.S. retail banking.
In the Sunday-night ruling, the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court threw out an order by Justice Charles Ramos issued late Saturday at the request of Citigroup; the order would have extended the time that Wachovia and Citigroup had to complete their deal.
Citigroup, which announced Sept. 29 that it had received federal backing to acquire the banking assets of Wachovia Corp. for $2.1 billion, the equivalent of about $1 a share, said it would appeal the decision.
The fight was also waged in federal court, where Wachovia asked U.S. District Judge John Koeltl to declare invalid part of the Citigroup deal that would have restricted Wachovia from considering competing bids. The Associated Press
