Is Banking M&A Back?

Bank of Montreal's takeout of Marshall & Ilsley $4.1 billion, or $7.75 a share (a 34 percent premium) causing several other regional banks to move up.

Regions Financial , KeyCorp , and Synovus all up 3 percent or more. Why?

MI got taken out at 1 times tangible book value (remember it was trading below tangible book) so bad news (lots of bad loans) is being taken out at tangible book value. Traders note that RF, KEY and SNV all trading at tangible book.

Wouldn't that mean that to take these other regionals out there would have to be an offer substantially above the current price, thus making the price above tangible book? So other deals will not be as cheap as the BMO-MI deal? And isn't tangible book going LOWER for many of these regionals? That's what I think, but hey...

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