BB&T announces $1.5 billion common stock offering

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., May 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BB&T Corporation (NYSE:
BBT) announced today that it has commenced a public offering of $1.5 billion
of its common stock for sale to the public. The underwriters in the offering
will have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 15% of the offered
amount of common stock from the company to cover over-allotments, if any.
Goldman, Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Morgan Stanley & Co.
Incorporated will serve as joint bookrunning managers for the offering, which
will be co-managed by BB&T Capital Markets.

Proceeds from the sale of the offering will qualify as tangible common equity
and Tier 1 regulatory capital. Following consultations with the Company's
regulators and subject to their final approval, the Company intends to use the
proceeds of this offering, in addition to other funds, to repay the preferred
stock and associated warrants BB&T issued to the U.S. Department of the
Treasury as part of its Capital Purchase Program.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of
an offer to buy any securities. A registration statement relating to these
securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and is
effective. A written prospectus for this offering meeting the requirements of
Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933 (other than a free writing prospectus
as defined in Securities Act Rule 405) may be obtained from Goldman, Sachs &
Co., 85 Broad Street, SC Level, New York, New York 10004, Attention:
Prospectus Department, Toll-Free 1-866-471-2526, or by e-mail at
prospectus-ny@ny.email.gs.com; J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., 4 Chase Metrotech
Center, CS Level, Brooklyn, New York 11245, Attention: Prospectus Department,
(718) 242-8002; or Morgan Stanley & Co., 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New
York, New York 10014, Attention: Prospectus Department, Toll Free
1-866-718-1649 or by e-mail at prospectus@morganstanley.com.

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of
an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of these
securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation
or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the
securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements as defined in
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may
address issues that involve significant risks, uncertainties, estimates and
assumptions made by management. Please refer to BB&T's filings with the SEC
for a summary of important factors that may affect BB&T's forward-looking
statements. BB&T undertakes no obligation to revise these statements following
the date of this press release.

At March 31, BB&T had $143.4 billion in assets and operated 1,504 banking
offices in the Carolinas, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia,
Maryland, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, Indiana and Washington, D.C. BB&T's
common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbol
BBT.

SOURCE BB&T Corporation

ANALYSTS: Tamera Gjesdal, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations,
+1-336-733-3058, Daryl Bible, Sr. Exec. Vice President, Chief Financial
Officer, +1-336-733-3031, MEDIA: Bob Denham, Senior Vice President, Corporate
Communications, +1-336-733-1475, all of BB&T