Miami — January 15, 2010 — Hunton & Williams LLP represented Banco de Sabadell, S.A., Spain's fourth largest bank, in the closing of Sabadell's acquisition of Mellon United National Bank ("MUNB"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of New York Mellon Corp. As announced last year, the stock purchase transaction involved the acquisition of all of MUNB's deposits ($1.675 billion dollars) and $875 million dollars in loans; that is, approximately 60 percent of MUNB's loan portfolio. As of today, the name of MUNB will change to Sabadell United Bank, N.A. This was Banco de Sabadell's third significant purchase transaction in the United States, following TransAtlantic Bank (May 2007) and BBVA's private banking business in Florida (April 2008). As a result, Sabadell's total business volume in the United States is expected to be approximately $6.4 billion dollars ($4.3 billion dollars in managed assets and $2.1 billion dollars in loans).

The Hunton & Williams team was led by Miami-based partner Fernando C. Alonso and David R. Yates, and involved lawyers from various offices, including Uriel A. Mendieta, Andrés Cedrón, Barbara Alonso and Zachary Schlichter from Miami; regulatory lawyers Zonnie Breckinridge and Stephanie Kalahurka from Austin; and Henry Talavera from Dallas.

"This transaction shows that even in these tough economic times, foreign institutions still have confidence in the US banking sector," said Alonso. "As we’ve seen, Spanish banks in particular have been bullish about opportunities in Florida and the United States, generally, and Sabadell's investment is a positive statement for our community."

Sabadell's internal legal team was led by Anna Oestereicher, its US general counsel, and from Spain by the Bank's general counsel, Oriol de Nadal Alier. The Hunton & Williams team worked closely with Bank of New York Mellon's internal counsel, led by Marcia Wallace and Becket Sorce.

"This acquisition supports Banco de Sabadell's growth plans in the US and their further belief not only in the Florida market but their continued long-term strategy in the United States," added Yates.