PhillyDeals: Wachovia-Wells union will cost taxpayers

Wachovia Corp. chief executive officer Robert K. Steel, below, said the bank's planned takeover by Wells Fargo & Co., led by chairman Richard Kovacevich, above, "poses no cost to the United States taxpayers." Buta closer look shows that Wells may reap billions in tax breaks. Wells Fargo & Co.'s planned takeover of Wachovia Corp. "poses no cost to the United States taxpayers," Wachovia chief executive officer Robert K. Steel told investors Oct. 3, after he had ditched a rival Citigroup Inc. bid backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. But a closer look shows Wells Fargo is poised to reap billions in new tax breaks from its planned Wachovia deal, thanks to federal government actions after Citi's Sept. 29 bid. On Sept. 30, according to Mark Russell, a corporate-tax expert at the investment bank Griffin Financial Group... [read full story]