CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory learned Wachovia was being acquired by Wells Fargo early this morning after he received a phone call from a Wachovia representative of management.

“Nothing is a surprise to me anymore,” McCrory told NewsChannel 36.

“These executives are not allowed to communicate with anyone - be it the mayor, the governor - because that would be against the law… because these impact the market… but I did know that merger was a general agreement and was not anywhere close to being finalized. And apparently Wells Fargo and Wachovia management said maybe we can get a better deal and apparently they have, which is good for the employees of Wachovia and good for the stockholders of Wachovia, which means it is good for Charlotte.

"My initial reaction is that this would be a better deal than Citigroup. And again, that is with very little information and the reason I say that is they are in the retail banking area also along with Wachovia. But their retail banking is primarily on the West Coast. And Wachovia has the East Coast and I would assume that we’d keep a lot of our infrastructure right here in Charlotte and the Carolinas and up and down the East Coast."

Wachovia shareholders will receive 0.1991 shares of Wells Fargo for every share of Wachovia stock they own, valuing Wachovia Corp. at about $7 per share.

Wells Fargo & Co. will record merger and integration charges of about $10 billion, but says it expects earnings to be boosted within the first year after the acquisition closes. No government assistance is part of the deal terms.

“Listen this deal was made last night so there is a lot to do and we probably won’t know the long term ramifications for several months, but in the meantime myself and the president of the chamber are already on the phone trying to coordinate activity where I hope to be meeting with and talking with Mr. Steele and maybe managers of Wells Fargo like we did this week with Citigroup.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.