One of the nation’s longest and most...

One of the nation’s longest and most bitter takeover battles has formally ended with the $1.48-billion merger of Irving Bank Corp. with Bank of New York Co. The merger was approved by Irving’s shareholders at a special meeting, the Bank of New York said. Bank of New York said it expected that the principal banking subsidiaries of the two holding companies, the Bank of New York and Irving Trust Co., will be merged in the first half of 1989. The two banks had combined assets of $47.8 billion as of June 30.