Regents Bancshares, the parent of La Jolla-based Regents Bank, agreed to be acquired by Grandpoint Capital Inc., a Los Angeles based private equity firm that has been on a bank buying spree since its founding in 2008 by longtime banker Don Griffith, the company said Sept. 6.
Terms of the sale, which require both shareholder and regulatory approvals, weren’t disclosed, but the former is a nonissue given the fact that Regents largest owner, Chairman Thomas Young, controls far more than half of the company’s shares.
Regents Bank CEO Dan Yates, who helped to found the bank in September 2001, said Young desired to get out of the daily operations of the bank and pushed for the sale.
Yates said once the deal closes, which is expected sometime in the first quarter of 2012, the bank’s customers won’t see much change. While Regents will become a subsidiary bank owned by Grandpoint, it will retain all of its management including Yates, its five offices, current staff, and its name.
As a part of a much larger financial organization (Grandpoint Bank in Los Angeles has $875 million in assets), Regents will have much larger capital levels and the ability to make larger loans than the current maximum of $5 million, and possibly acquire other banks, Yates said.
— Mike Allen
