Yesterday MRBK was 36.78 Im not sure if im right but to make an arbitrage under these circumstances i need to buy 1.553 stock of MRBK for 1 PNC stock i short? The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC - News) and Mercantile Bankshares Corporation (Nasdaq: MRBK - News), today announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for PNC to acquire Mercantile for $47.24 per share, or approximately $6.0 billion in stock and cash. Under terms of the merger agreement, which has been approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies, Mercantile will merge into PNC. After closing, PNC intends to merge Mercantile's banking affiliates into PNC Bank. Based on PNC's closing NYSE stock price of $73.60 on October 6, 2006, the transaction values each share of Mercantile's common stock at $47.24. The aggregate consideration is composed of a fixed number of approximately 52.5 million shares of PNC common stock and $2.13 billion in cash. Mercantile shareholders will be entitled to 0.4184 shares of PNC common stock and $16.45 in cash for each share of Mercantile.
Your "arb" is shorting .4184 PNC and buying one MRBK. It's not worth it with the spread around a dollar. If the deal doesn't go through you're looking at a $9/share loss. There is also the time factor, carrying costs aren't cheap.