OREANDA-NEWS. S&P Global Ratings today said it withdrew its 'BBB+' counterparty credit rating on FirstMerit Corp. (FEMR) and its 'A-/A-2' counterparty credit rating on FirstMerit Bank N. A. In addition, we equalized the ratings on FMER's debt outstanding to the ratings on Huntington Bancshares Inc. We removed the ratings from CreditWatch, where they were placed with negative implications on Jan. 26.

The rating action follows the closing of Huntington Bancshares' acquisition of FMER, which became effective on Aug. 16. Huntington will assume the company's outstanding debt. We have lowered the rating on the outstanding debt by a notch to reflect the lower rating on Huntington.