Grandpoint, NCal Abandon Merger

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Grandpoint Capital Inc. and NCal Bancorp have called off their planned merger, but did not give a reason.

The Los Angeles holding company for National Bank of California announced in June that it would be acquired by Grandpoint Capital, a Los Angeles bank holding company that has grown rapidly by acquiring banks struggling with credit issues in California and Arizona over the last two years.

The banks announced late Monday that they terminated a definitive agreement under which Grandpoint Capital would have acquired NCal Bancorp. National Bank of California, which has five offices in Los Angeles and Orange counties and total assets of $378 million at years-end, would have become a wholly owned subsidiary of Grandpoint Capital. Grandpoint Bank had consolidated assets of $2.1 billion at the end of the year.

“While we are disappointed with this turn of events, we will continue to explore opportunities for a future partnership,” the companies said in a joint statement.

The deal was announced in June, approved by NCal shareholders in September and had been expected to close by the end of the year. But in November, Ncal signed a separate agreement to transfer NCal’s Glendale branch office to Manufacturers Bank, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. The branch’s deposits were included in the deal, but not the loans.

The value of the deal was based on a complicated formula tied partly to loan recoveries over the next two years. Had the deal closed in May 2012 just before the initial announcement, NCal shareholders would have received $1.45 a share, or $3.4 million, plus $1.70 a share, or $3.96 million, in 2014, according to the formula.

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