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NEW YORK--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--WeissLaw LLP, a national class action and shareholder rights law firm with offices in New York City and Los Angeles, is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the Board of Directors of Citizens Republic Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRBC) arising from its agreement for Citizens to be acquired by FirstMerit Corporation (Nasdaq: FMER). Under the terms of the agreement, Citizens shareholders will receive a fixed 1.37 shares of FirstMerit common stock for each share of Citizens stock they own, representing a value of approximately $22.50 per share, based on FirstMeritas average ten-day closing stock price ended September 12, 2012. The approximate value of the transaction is $912 million.

WeissLaw LLP is investigating whether Citizensa Board acted in the best interests of its shareholders in approving this deal and whether Citizens adequately shopped the Company to obtain the best price for Citizensa shareholders. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, the median EBIT and revenue multiples for ten comparable deals is 15.45 and 3.29, respectively, compared with 9.68 and 1.84 in this proposed transaction. If you own Citizens shares and would like more information about your rights as a shareholder or additional information concerning our investigation, please contact Michael A. Rogovin either by telephone at (888) 593-4771 or by email at [ info@weisslawllp.com ].

WeissLaw LLP has litigated hundreds of stockholder class and derivative actions for violations of corporate and fiduciary duties. We have recovered over a billion dollars for defrauded institutions and individuals and obtained important corporate governance in these cases. If you have information or would like legal advice concerning possible corporate wrongdoing (including insider trading, waste of corporate assets, accounting fraud, or issuing materially misleading information), consumer fraud (including false advertising, defective products, or other deceptive business practices), or anti-trust violations, please email us at [ info@weisslawllp.com ] or fill out the form on our website, [ http://www.weisslawllp.com/contact/report_fraud/ ].

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