BUSINESS NEWS DIGEST: F.N.B. merger done

F.N.B. merger done

HERMITAGE, PA.

F.N.B. Corp. completed its merger with Comm Bancorp, Inc. on Sunday. Shares of Comm Bancorp, Inc. no longer will be traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

Community Bank & Trust branches will continue to operate as normal, as a division of First National Bank of Pennsylvania, with a complete conversion to First National Bank products and services scheduled to be effective Feb. 19.

With the merger, First National Bank of Pennsylvania has 238 offices serving commercial and consumer customers in 41 counties in Pennsylvania and Northeast Ohio.

“This transaction is a strategic expansion of our presence in eastern Pennsylvania into markets with attractive demographics, long-term growth potential and significant exposure to Marcellus Shale activity,” said Stephen J. Gurgovits, F.N.B. president and chief executive officer.

F.N.B., with headquarters in Hermitage, is a diversified financial-services company with total assets of $9 billion as of Sept. 30, 2010.

Refineries sue EPA

WASHINGTON

A ruling by the Obama administration allowing the sale of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol is running into legal hurdles from trade groups opposing the plan.

The National Petrochemical and Refiners Association sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday over the decision to allow the sale of gasoline containing higher blends of corn-based ethanol, the second major group to protest the ruling.

The Obama administration said in October that gas stations could start selling the ethanol blend for vehicles built since the 2007 model-year, increasing it from the current blend of 10 percent ethanol.

Vindicator staff/wire reports