Stephen Gordon is ready to become a bank acquirer – again.
Genesis Bank in Newport Beach, Calif., where Gordon is chairman and CEO, said in a press release that has secured about $500 million in capital commitments to buy and recapitalize banks in the western United States.
The $173 million-asset minority depository institution, which opened in 2021, would only draw upon the capital if it received regulatory and shareholder approvals for specific acquisitions. The funds would come from large and midsize private equity firms, traditional bank fund investors and family offices.
“In recognition of the challenges faced across the banking sector, we believe there is meaningful opportunity for Genesis to leverage its … platform, clean balance sheet, abundant capital, and veteran expertise, to actively and opportunistically pursue acquisition and recapitalization transactions,” Gordon said in the release.
Piper Sandler is placement agent.
Gordon is very comfortable acting as an acquirer. He led the recapitalization of Bay Cities National Bank in September 2010 before rebranding the $273 million-asset bank as Opus Bank. Opus bought three banks in California and Washington to reach $7.5 billion of assets by the end of 2017.
Opus experienced growing pains, reporting two quarters of losses in 2016 as it addressed credit quality issues tied to dealings with technology companies and specialty lending.
Gordon left Opus in 2018; it was sold in 2020 to Pacific Premier Bancorp in Irvine, Calif.