Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is advising J.P. Morgan as financial adviser to NewAlliance Bancshares, Inc. in connection with its approximately $1.5 billion merger with First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. The merger of NewAlliance into First Niagara will be a cash and stock transaction creating a top-25 U.S. bank, by assets. The transaction, which is scheduled to close early in the second quarter of 2011, is subject to approvals by regulators and First Niagara and NewAlliance shareholders, and other customary conditions.

NewAlliance Bancshares is a New Haven, Connecticut-headquartered regional banking and financial services company and the parent company of NewAlliance Bank, the third-largest bank headquartered in Connecticut and fourth-largest headquartered in New England. First Niagara Financial Group, through its wholly owned subsidiary, First Niagara Bank, N.A., operates as a multi-state community oriented bank with $21 billion in assets, 255 branches and $14 billion in deposits.

The Davis Polk corporate team includes partner George R. Bason Jr. and associate Carson T. Stewart, both of the New York office.