Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati plans to record a large fourth-quarter gain after selling shares in payment processor Vantiv.
The $140 billion-asset company said in a press release Thursday that it will recognize a pretax gain of roughly $419 million - or $273 million after taxes - tied to a series of transactions associated with shedding the stock.
Most of the pretax gain - about $330 million - was tied to the sale of 8 million shares of Class A stock in Vanitv. Fifth Third obtained those shares through an exchange of Class B shares.
The remaining $89 million in pretax gains were tied to Fifth Third's arrangement to cancel its rights to buy more Vantiv shares in exchange for a $200 million cash payment from the processing firm.
Fifth Third said it still owns about 18.3% of Vantiv's equity, though it no longer has consent rights that require its approval for "certain significant matters" tied to the processing company.
