Nearly four months after announcing its intention to buy out Citizens Bank's Long Island supermarket branches for $3.25 million, People's United Bank is ready to close the deal.
By month's end, People's United is expected to officially take control of the 53 branches based in New York Stop & Shop locations.
People's is a relative newcomer to the Long Island market. Long a banking giant in Connecticut, the company cracked this market when it for $60 million in 2010. That acquisition gave People's 29 branches in the Nassau-Suffolk market. It has now grown to 33 locations here, most recently opening a branch on Montauk Highway in Bayport.
People's is also no stranger to supermarket banking. It already operates 87 Stop & Shop branches in Connecticut, where it has had supermarket branches since 1995.
People's already operates two branches in Setauket and one in Port Jefferson. That tally will jump to five in the area with the changeover at Stop & Shop stores in and . Stop & Shop also has a nearby store in Smithtown.
Rhode Island-based Citizens Bank is a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
