Conn. firm acquires Merrill Bank parent

BURLINGTON, Vt. – Vermont’s Chittenden Bank is under new management.

People’s United Financial of Bridgeport, Conn., announced Wednesday that it had completed its acquisition of Chittenden Corp., which is the parent company of Merrill Bank in Bangor.

The combined company now has more than $21 billion in assets with more than 300 branches in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and New York.

The deal, valued at $1.9 billion, was first announced in June.

The names of the six banks and 130 branches in Chittenden’s group of banks will not change.

They will be added to People’s 160 branches.

No major layoffs are expected among Chittenden’s 2,000 employees. No layoffs are expected in Bangor, according to Bill Lucy, president of Merrill Bank.

“We see it as business as usual. We see it as no impact on the horizon. We’ll be Merrill Bank with the people who work here now and supporting the community as we have in the past,” Lucy said Wednesday.

BDN staff writer Anne Ravana contributed to this report.