BANK OF NEW YORK REAFFIRMS TERMS FOR IRVING <V> The Bank of New York Corp <BK> said it reaffirmed the terms of its offer for Irving Bank Corp despite the drop in the Bank of New York's share price to 30-1/8, a Bank of New York spokesman said. "The offer still stands, we have not changed our offer," a Bank of New York spokesman said. Irving would not comment on how the drop in the market affects its position on the bid or whether it would buy back any of its own shares. Earlier this month, Irving rejected the bid as inadequate and said it wanted to retain its independence. In late September, Bank of New York offered 80 dlrs per share in cash for 47.4 pct of Irving. For the remaining 52.6 pct, it offered an exchange of 1.9 shares of its shares for one Irving share. At that time, the stock purchase portion was worth close to 80 dlrs per share, but now that portion is worth 53 dlrs per share for a net price of 68 dlrs, one analyst said. According to the prospectus offer, shareholders may tender for all cash or all shares on a first come, first serve basis. Analysts were mixed about how the stock price drop would affect the acquisition. "If it gets to the Irving shareholders, they would approve it, but Irving hopes the offer won't go to the shareholders," said Mark Alpert, banking analyst with Bear Stearns Cos Inc. "And the market is saying the deal won't go through," Alpert said. "The transaction looks highly unlikely to be completed at present. If Irving wouldn't go with the offer at 80 dlrs a share, then they won't go at a lower price," another analyst said. The analyst also doubted that Bank of New York could afford to retain its original offer. However, industry sources were more uncertain about prospects for the deal. "With Irving's price so low, Bank of New York's offer will look good to Irving shareholders," said Michael Flores, a consultant at Bank Earnings International, a consulting firm. The drop of Irving's share to 44 dlrs per share, which is about a 26 dlr drop from the beginning of last week, increases the chance that Bank of New York will succeed, Flores said. Analysts said that the drop in bank stock prices is likely to depress the level of mergers and acquisition in the banking industry. "Bank takeovers are less likely because banks can't use their own stock to make acquisitions because their share price is too depressed," Alpert said. Since only banks can buy another bank, the only other possible acquirors would be a foreign bank, Alpert said. "In the market drop the stock of acquirors got clobbered more than the acquirees," another analyst said.