Delay for New York Community-Astoria Deal

New York Community Bancorp in Westbury will not receive regulatory approval for its deal to buy Astoria Financial by the end of the year as initially planned.

A reason was not given for the delay. Under the agreement, either company may terminate the deal if it is not completed by Dec. 31, the $49.5 billion-asset New York Community said Wednesday.

The parties "remain committed to the transaction" but any extension would need to be approved by both boards, New York Community said in a press release.  

New York Community said in October 2015 that it would pay $2 billion for the $14.8 billion-asset Astoria, of Lake Success, N.Y. The deal would help New York Community jump over $50 billion of assets — a threshold that triggers additional regulatory scrutiny — but did little to help diversify the company’s balance sheet away from its reliance on commercial real estate loans. Regulators have warned about potential risks in CRE and have started paying more attention to banks that are highly concentrated in this area.

Management at New York Community has said it remained confident about its loan portfolio and underwriting ability. The boards at both companies approved the transaction in April.