SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

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FORM 8-K

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CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 OR 15(d)

of The Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported)  October 26, 2025

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Huntington Bancshares Incorporated

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

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Registrant’s address: 41 South High Street, Columbus, Ohio 43287

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (614) 480-2265

Not Applicable

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report.)

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Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2).

Emerging growth company ☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

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On October 26, 2025, Huntington Bancshares Incorporated, a Maryland corporation (“Huntington”), entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with The Huntington National Bank, a national bank and a wholly owned subsidiary of Huntington (“Huntington National Bank” and, together with Huntington, the “Huntington Parties”) and Cadence Bank, a Mississippi-chartered bank (“Cadence”).

 

The Merger Agreement provides that, upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth therein, Cadence will merge with and into Huntington National Bank (the “Merger”), with Huntington National Bank continuing as the surviving bank in the Merger.  The Merger Agreement was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of each of Huntington, Huntington National Bank and Cadence.

 

Subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Merger Agreement, at the effective time of the Merger (the “Effective Time”), each share of common stock, par value $2.50 per share, of Cadence (“Cadence Common Stock”) outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time, including any Cadence restricted stock awards that vest solely as a result of the Merger, and other than certain shares held by Cadence or the Huntington Parties, will be converted into the right to receive 2.475 shares of common stock (the “Exchange Ratio”), par value $0.01 per share, of Huntington (“Huntington Common Stock”).  Holders of Cadence Common Stock will receive cash in lieu of fractional shares.  In addition, subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Merger Agreement, at the Effective Time, each share of 5.50% Series A Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, par value $0.01 per share, of Cadence (the “Cadence Preferred Stock”) outstanding immediately prior to the Effective Time, will be automatically converted into the right to receive 1/1000 of a share of a newly created series of preferred stock of Huntington having powers, preferences or special rights that are not materially less favorable than the terms of the Cadence Preferred Stock (all shares of such newly created series, collectively, the “New Huntington Preferred Stock”) or depositary shares in respect thereof.

 

Subject to the terms and conditions of the Merger Agreement, at the Effective Time, (i) each outstanding Cadence restricted stock unit that is not held by a non-employee director of Cadence will convert into a Huntington restricted stock unit, with the number of shares adjusted based on the Exchange Ratio, (ii) each outstanding Cadence restricted stock unit that is held by a non-employee director of Cadence will accelerate in full and convert into a right to receive (A) Huntington Common Stock, with the numbers of shares adjusted based on the Exchange Ratio, and (B) a cash payment equal to the accrued dividend equivalents with respect to such unit, (iii) each outstanding Cadence performance stock unit award will convert into a Huntington restricted stock unit, with the number of shares underlying such award (x) deemed earned based on the greater of target and actual performance measured through the latest practicable date prior to the Effective Time (provided that, with respect to any Cadence performance stock unit award that is subject to a relative total shareholder return (“rTSR”) modifier and has a performance period ending after December 31, 2025, the rTSR modifier will be determined based on performance measured as of October 21, 2025) and (y) adjusted based on the Exchange Ratio, and (iv) each outstanding Cadence restricted stock award (other than those that vest solely as a result of the Merger) will convert into Huntington restricted stock, with the number of shares adjusted based on the Exchange Ratio. Each such converted Huntington award will otherwise continue to be subject to the same terms and conditions as applied to the corresponding Cadence award (excluding any performance-based vesting requirements) in effect immediately prior to the Effective Time.

The Merger Agreement also provides, among other things, that Huntington will take all appropriate action so that three (3) current directors of Cadence will be appointed to the Board of Directors of Huntington.  Each of the directors so appointed will be designated by Huntington, it being agreed that one of the designated directors will be James D. Rollins III, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cadence.

 

Additionally, the Merger Agreement provides that following the consummation of the Merger, Huntington will maintain the Cadence Bank Foundation and will dedicate any funds in the Cadence Bank Foundation at the Effective Time to supporting community development and reinvestment and civic and charitable activities within Cadence’s footprint.

 

The Merger Agreement contains customary representations and warranties of the Huntington Parties and Cadence, and each of Huntington and Cadence has agreed to customary covenants, including, among others, covenants relating to (i) the conduct of its business during the interim period between the execution of the Merger Agreement and the Effective Time, (ii) its obligation to call a meeting of its shareholders to approve the Merger and the Merger Agreement, and, subject to certain exceptions, to recommend that its shareholders approve the Merger and the Merger Agreement and (iii) Cadence’s non-solicitation obligations relating to alternative business combination proposals.  Cadence and Huntington have also agreed to use their reasonable best efforts to obtain all necessary permits, consents, approvals and authorizations for consummation of the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement.

 

The completion of the Merger is subject to customary conditions, including (i) approval of the issuance of Huntington Common Stock in the Merger by Huntington’s shareholders and approval of the Merger Agreement by Cadence’s shareholders, (ii) authorization for listing on the NASDAQ Stock Market of the shares of Huntington Common Stock and New Huntington Preferred Stock (or depositary shares in respect thereof) to be issued in the Merger, in each case subject to official notice of issuance, (iii) the receipt of required regulatory approvals, including the approval of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, (iv) the effectiveness of the registration statement on Form S-4 for the shares of Huntington Common Stock and the New Huntington Preferred Stock (or depositary shares in respect thereof) to be issued in the Merger, and (v) the absence of any order, injunction, decree or other legal restraint preventing the completion of the Merger or any of the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement or making the completion of the Merger or any of the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement illegal.  Each party’s obligation to complete the Merger is also subject to certain additional customary conditions, including (i) subject to certain exceptions, the accuracy of the representations and warranties of the other party, (ii) performance in all material respects by the other party of its obligations under the Merger Agreement and (iii) receipt by such party of an opinion of counsel to the effect that the Merger will qualify as a “reorganization” within the meaning of Section 368(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.

 

The Merger Agreement provides certain termination rights for the Huntington Parties and Cadence and further provides that a termination fee of $296,000,000 will be payable by either Huntington or Cadence, as applicable, in the event of a termination of the Merger Agreement under certain circumstances.

 

The representations, warranties and covenants of each party set forth in the Merger Agreement have been made only for the purposes of, and were and are solely for the benefit of the parties to, the Merger Agreement, may be subject to limitations agreed upon by the contracting parties, including being qualified by confidential disclosures made for the purposes of allocating contractual risk between the parties to the Merger Agreement instead of establishing these matters as facts, and may be subject to standards of materiality applicable to the parties that differ from those applicable to investors.  Accordingly, the representations and warranties may not describe the actual state of affairs at the date they were made or at any other time, and investors should not rely on them as statements of fact.  In addition, such representations and warranties (i) will not survive consummation of the Merger and (ii) were made only as of the date of the Merger Agreement or such other date as is specified in the Merger Agreement.  Moreover, information concerning the subject matter of the representations and warranties may change after the date of the Merger Agreement, which subsequent information may or may not be fully reflected in the parties’ public disclosures.  Accordingly, the Merger Agreement is included with this filing only to provide investors with information regarding the terms of the Merger Agreement, and not to provide investors with any other factual information regarding Huntington or Cadence, their respective affiliates or their respective businesses.  The Merger Agreement should not be read alone, but should instead be read in conjunction with the other information regarding the Huntington Parties, Cadence, their respective affiliates or their respective businesses, the Merger Agreement and the Merger, that will be contained in, or incorporated by reference into, the registration statement on Form S-4 that will include a joint proxy statement of Huntington and Cadence and also constitute a prospectus of Huntington, as well as in the Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and other filings that Huntington makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and that Cadence makes with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

 

The foregoing description of the Merger Agreement does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the Merger Agreement, which is attached hereto as Exhibit 2.1 and is incorporated herein by reference.

 

 

(d)  Exhibits

 

 

*Pursuant to Item 601(b)(2) of Regulation S-K, certain schedules and similar attachments have been omitted. The registrant hereby agrees to furnish a copy of any omitted schedule or similar attachment to the SEC upon request.

 

CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This communication may contain certain forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, certain plans, expectations, goals, projections, and statements about the benefits of the proposed transaction, the plans, objectives, expectations and intentions of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (“Huntington”) and Cadence Bank (“Cadence”), the expected timing of completion of the transaction, and other statements that are not historical facts.  Such statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks, estimates, uncertainties and other important factors that change over time and could cause actual results to differ materially from any results, performance, or events expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including as a result of the factors referenced below.  Statements that do not describe historical or current facts, including statements about beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements.  Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as expect, anticipate, continue, believe, intend, estimate, plan, trend, objective, target, goal, or similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as will, may, might, should, would, could, or similar variations.  The forward-looking statements are intended to be subject to the safe harbor provided by Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Huntington and Cadence caution that the forward-looking statements in this communication are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to assess and are subject to change based on factors which are, in many instances, beyond Huntington’s and Cadence’s control.  While there is no assurance that any list of risks and uncertainties or risk factors is complete, below are certain factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained or implied in the forward-looking statements or historical performance: changes in general economic, political, or industry conditions; deterioration in business and economic conditions, including persistent inflation, supply chain issues or labor shortages, instability in global economic conditions and geopolitical matters, as well as volatility in financial markets; changes in U.S. trade policies, including the imposition of tariffs and retaliatory tariffs; the impact of pandemics and other catastrophic events or disasters on the global economy and financial market conditions and our business, results of operations, and financial condition; the impacts related to or resulting from bank failures and other volatility, including potential increased regulatory requirements and costs, such as Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”) special assessments, long-term debt requirements and heightened capital requirements, and potential impacts to macroeconomic conditions, which could affect the ability of depository institutions, including us, to attract and retain depositors and to borrow or raise capital; unexpected outflows of uninsured deposits which may require us to sell investment securities at a loss; changing interest rates which could negatively impact the value of our portfolio of investment securities; the loss of value of our investment portfolio which could negatively impact market perceptions of us and could lead to deposit withdrawals; the effects of social media on market perceptions of us and banks generally; cybersecurity risks; uncertainty in U.S. fiscal and monetary policy, including the interest rate policies of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve”); volatility and disruptions in global capital, foreign exchange and credit markets; movements in interest rates; competitive pressures on product pricing and services; success, impact, and timing of our business strategies, including market acceptance of any new products or services including those implementing our “Fair Play” banking philosophy; changes in policies and standards for regulatory review of bank mergers; the nature, extent, timing, and results of governmental actions, examinations, reviews, reforms, regulations, and interpretations, including those related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the Basel III regulatory capital reforms, as well as those involving the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Reserve, FDIC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and state-level regulators; the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the right of one or both of the parties to terminate the merger agreement between Huntington and Cadence; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Huntington or Cadence; delays in completing the proposed transaction involving Huntington and Cadence; the failure to obtain necessary regulatory approvals (and the risk that such approvals may result in the imposition of conditions that could adversely affect the combined company or the expected benefits of the transaction); the failure to obtain Huntington shareholder approval or Cadence shareholder approval or to satisfy any of the other conditions to the transaction on a timely basis or at all; the possibility that the anticipated benefits of the transaction are not realized when expected or at all, including as a result of the impact of, or problems arising from, the integration of the two companies or as a result of the strength of the economy and competitive factors in the areas where Huntington and Cadence do business; the possibility that the transaction may be more expensive to complete than anticipated, including as a result of unexpected factors or events; the ability of Huntington and Cadence to meet expectations regarding the timing, completion and accounting and tax treatment of the transaction; diversion of management’s attention from ongoing business operations and opportunities; potential adverse reactions or changes to business, customer or employee relationships, including those resulting from the announcement or completion of the transaction; the ability to complete the transaction and integration of Huntington and Cadence successfully; the dilution caused by Huntington’s issuance of additional shares of its capital stock in connection with the transaction; and other factors that may affect the future results of Huntington and Cadence. Additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those described above can be found in Huntington’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 and in its subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, including for the quarter ended June 30, 2025, each of which is on file with the SEC and available on the “Investor Relations” section of Huntington’s website, http://www.huntington.com, under the heading “Investor Relations” and in other documents Huntington files with the SEC, and in Cadence’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 and in its subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, including for the quarter ended June 30, 2025, each of which is on file with the Federal Reserve and available on Cadence’s investor relations website, ir.cadencebank.com, under the heading “Public Filings” and in other documents Cadence files with the Federal Reserve.

All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements set forth above.  Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and are based on information available at that time.  Neither Huntington nor Cadence assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, new information or future events, changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or other factors affecting forward-looking statements that occur after the date the forward-looking statements were made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events except as required by federal securities laws.  If Huntington or Cadence updates one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that Huntington or Cadence will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.  As forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, caution should be exercised against placing undue reliance on such statements.

IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

 

In connection with the proposed transaction, Huntington will file with the SEC a Registration Statement on Form S-4 that will include a Joint Proxy Statement of Huntington and Cadence and a Prospectus of Huntington, as well as other relevant documents concerning the proposed transaction.  The proposed transaction involving Huntington and Cadence will be submitted to Huntington’s shareholders and Cadence’s shareholders for their consideration.  This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.  INVESTORS, SHAREHOLDERS OF HUNTINGTON AND SHAREHOLDERS OF CADENCE ARE URGED TO READ THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT AND THE JOINT PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS REGARDING THE TRANSACTION WHEN IT BECOMES AVAILABLE AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC AND THE FEDERAL RESERVE, AS WELL AS ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS TO THOSE DOCUMENTS, BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Shareholders will be able to obtain a free copy of the definitive joint proxy statement/prospectus, as well as other filings containing information about Huntington and Cadence, without charge, at the SEC’s website (http://www.sec.gov) and Cadence’s website (https://ir.cadencebank.com/fdic-federal-reserve-filings), respectively.  Copies of the joint proxy statement/prospectus, when available, and the filings with the SEC and the Federal Reserve that will be incorporated by reference in the joint proxy statement/prospectus can also be obtained, without charge, by directing a request to Huntington Investor Relations, Huntington Bancshares Incorporated, Huntington Center, 41 South High Street, Columbus, Ohio 43287, (800) 576-5007.  Copies of the joint proxy statement/prospectus, when available, and filings containing information about Cadence may be obtained after their filing with the Federal Reserve at (https://ir.cadencebank.com/fdic-federal-reserve-filings), by directing a request to Will Fisackerly, Cadence Investor Relations, Cadence Bank, (800) 698-7878, IR@cadencebank.com.  References to Cadence’s website does not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained on the website and is not, and should not be, deemed part of this filing.

 

PARTICIPANTS IN THE SOLICITATION

 

Huntington, Cadence, and certain of their respective directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the shareholders of Huntington and shareholders of Cadence in connection with the proposed transaction.  Information regarding the interests of the directors and executive officers of Huntington and Cadence and other persons who may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of shareholders of Huntington and Cadence in connection with the transaction and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be included in the definitive joint proxy statement/prospectus related to the transaction, which will be filed by Huntington with the SEC.  Information regarding Huntington’s directors and executive officers is available in its definitive joint proxy statement relating to its 2025 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which was filed with the SEC on March 6, 2025, and other documents filed by Huntington with the SEC.  Information regarding Cadence’s directors and executive officers is available in its definitive proxy statement relating to its 2025 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, which was filed with the Federal Reserve on March 14, 2025, and other documents filed by Cadence with the Federal Reserve.  Other information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be contained in the joint proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials filed with the SEC and the Federal Reserve by Huntington and Cadence, respectively.  Free copies of these documents may be obtained as described above under “Important Additional Information.”

 

SIGNATURES

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.