Cathay to buy general Bancorp in deal that doubles its assets. (Wall Street West).Two stalwarts of L.A.'s Chinese-American banking community agreed to join forces last week as Cathay Bancorp Inc. announced plans to acquire GBC GBC Game Boy Color GBC Global Business Coalition GBC Green Building Council GBC George Brown College GBC Great Basin College (Nevada) GBC General Binding Corporation GBC Greater Baltimore Committee GBC Goldey-Beacom College Bancorp Inc. for about $441 million in stock and cash. The deal, announced May 7, will allow Cathay, with 12 branches in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , to expand in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. and San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. . Cathay Bancorp will pay about $37.95 for each GBC share, valuing it about 26 percent more than its closing price of $30.08 prior to the deal's announcement. GBC shares are up 55 percent so far this year, after a disastrous 2002 that saw large loan writeoffs and the retirement of its longtime chairman and chief executive, Li-Pei Wu, who took the brunt of the blame for missteps. The purchase gives Cathay Bancorp 21 branches and almost doubles its deposits to $4.3 billion. The combined institution will be the 16th biggest bank in California, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. figures. "This gives us the size and. scale to grow and better serve our large and attractive customer niche," Cathay Bancorp Chairman and Chief Executive Dunson K. Cheng, said in a statement. Cathay said it expected the purchase to add to earnings immediately and increase 2004 profit by 5 percent. The company said it might close branches and fire staff as part of a goal to cut the banks' costs by 16 percent. GBC shareholders will receive about 6.75 million Cathay Bancorp shares and $162.4 million in cash. Three GBC directors will join Cathay Bancorp's board, which will be expanded to 14 members. GBC President and Chief Executive Peter Wu will become chief operating officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. of Cathay Bancorp, which will remain based in Los Angeles. GBC is the holding company for General Bank, which as 18 branches in Los Angeles, San Diego and Silicon Valley. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion