Pacific Premier to acquire California-chartered commercial bank Opus Bank

Pacific Premier acquisition of Opus Bank : California-based Pacific Premier Bancorp, the holding company of Pacific Premier Bank, has signed an all-stock deal worth around $1.0 billion to acquire Opus Bank as per the latest banking acquisition news.

The acquisition of the California-chartered commercial bank is expected to help Pacific Premier Bancorp create a banking franchise with $20 billion in assets in the Western US.

Headquartered in Irvine, Opus Bank has total assets of $8.0 billion, $5.9 billion in gross loans, and total deposits of $6.5 billion, as of 31 December 2019.

The chartered commercial bank operates 46 banking offices located across California, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona.

Opus Bank provides treasury and cash management and depository solutions, and a variety of loan products. Through its Escrow and Exchange divisions, the chartered commercial bank provides commercial escrow services apart from facilitating 1031 Exchange transactions.

On the other hand, Pacific Premier Bank is a business bank focused mainly on serving small and middle market businesses in certain counties in California, and also markets in Arizona, Washington, and Nevada.

Through 40 plus depository branches, Pacific Premier Bank provides a variety of lending products such as commercial, construction, commercial real estate, and SBA loans, and also specialty banking products for homeowners’ associations and franchise lending across the US.

Headquartered in Southern California, Pacific Premier Bank held around $11.8 billion in assets, as of 31 December 2019.

Pacific Premier acquisition of Opus Bank. Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay.

Commenting on Pacific Premier acquisition of Opus Bank, Steven R. Gardner -Chairman, President and CEO of Pacific Premier, said: “The combination with Opus provides us with a meaningful presence in attractive major metropolitan markets with operational scale, a complementary set of banking products and services, and improved revenue and business diversification.

“As a result of this transaction, we believe we will be well-positioned to generate profitable growth in the future and to benefit the combined institution’s shareholders.”

As per the terms of the deal, Opus Bank’s shareholders will exchange each of their shares with 0.90 shares of Pacific Premier. On that basis, existing Pacific Premier’s shareholders will own about 63% stake in the combined bank holding company, while Opus Bank’s shareholders will own the remainder stake of nearly 37%.

Paul Taylor – President and CEO of Opus Bank, commenting on Pacific Premier acquisition of Opus Bank, said: “We are pleased to be partnering with Pacific Premier and believe the combination creates one of the most attractive banks in the Western U.S.

“We look forward to the opportunities and benefits this combination will bring to our shareholders, in terms of prospects for future earnings growth, immediate dividend pick-up and diversification, as well as to clients, employees and the many communities we serve.”

Pacific Premier’s financial advisor for the deal is D.A. Davidson & Co., while Holland & Knight is the legal counsel. For Opus Bank, its financial advisor for the deal is Piper Sandler & Co., while Sullivan & Cromwell is the legal counsel.

Pacific Premier acquisition of Opus Bank is expected to be wrapped up in the Q2 2020, subject to regulatory approvals, shareholder approvals of both Pacific Premier and Opus shareholders, and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.