Company: NWBI
Filing Date: 2025-02-24
Form Type: 424B3
Source: 0001193125-25-033488
Chunk: 51

Company: Northwest Bancshares, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-24
Form: 424B3
Chunk 51
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 its new markets. |

The board of directors of Northwest also considered a variety of risks and other potentially negative factors in deliberations concerning the Merger. In particular, the board of directors of Northwest considered:

| • |     | the costs associated with the regulatory approval process, transaction expenses, and other Merger related costs; |

| • |     | the possibility of encountering difficulties in achieving anticipated synergies and cost savings in the amounts 
 estimated or in the timeframe contemplated;                                                                     |

| • |     | the dilution to current Northwest stockholders from the issuance of additional shares of Northwest common stock 
 in the Merger;                                                                                                  |

| • |     | the potential risk of diverting management attention and resources towards the completion of the Merger and the 
 integration of Penns Woods;                                                                                     |

| • |     | potential run-off of deposits and loans following announcement 
 and/or the closing of the Merger;                              |

| • |     | the risk that projected earnings and/or cost savings will not materialize or will be less than expected; |

| • |     | the possibility that Northwest common stock may trade down post-announcement and/or post-Merger; |

| • |     | the risk that Penns Woods’ loans and other items were not appropriately valued; |

| • |     | the risk that Penns Woods terminates the Merger Agreement by reason of a superior competing proposal; and |

| • |     | other risks described under the sections entitled “RISK FACTORS” beginning on page 18 and 
 “CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS” beginning on page 16.         |

The above discussion of the information and factors considered by the Northwest board of directors is not intended to be exhaustive but includes the material factors considered by the Northwest board of directors. In reaching its decision to approve the Merger Agreement, the Merger and the other transactions contemplated by 34

the Merger Agreement, the Northwest board of directors did not quantify or assign any relative weights to the factors considered, and individual directors may have given different weights to different factors. The Northwest board of directors considered all these factors as a whole, including through its discussions with Northwest’s management and financial and legal advisors, in evaluating the Merger Agreement, the Merger, and the other transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement. Penns Woods’ Reasons for the Merger In reaching the conclusion that the Merger Agreement, and the transactions contemplated thereunder, are in the best interests of and advisable for