Taichung Commercial Bank in Taipei, Taiwan, plans to enter the U.S. with the acquisition of American Continental Bancorp in City of Industry, Calif.
The $26 billion-asset Taichung Commercial said in a press release that it agreed to pay $82.1 million in cash for the $324 million-asset American Continental. The deal, which is expected to close early in the first quarter, priced the U.S. bank at 183% of its tangible book value.
American Continental, which has $246 million of loans and $271 million of deposits, primarily serves the Chinese-American community. It has locations in California and Washington, along with a loan production office in Texas.
The acquisition “enables us to expand the TCB franchise to the attractive Los Angeles, Washington, and Texas markets and serve its large community of Asian-Americans,” David Jia, Taichung Commercial’s president, said in the release.
“American Continental is an excellent cultural fit,” Jia added. “We have complementary business models, strong residential mortgage loan production platforms and a focus on the Chinese-American market.”
Jia said his bank plans to open new branches in the United States.
Janney Montgomery Scott and Loren P. Hansen advised American Continental. PricewaterhouseCoopers Financial Advisory Taiwan and PricewaterhouseCoopers Legal Taiwan advised Taichung Commercial.