Koreantown bank holding company Hanmi Financial Corp. completed its acquisition of United Central Bank of Garland, Texas, over the weekend in a deal that gives Hanmi a presence in Illinois, Texas and Virginia.
The $50 million deal, first announced late last year, closed Aug. 31. Hanmi paid $17.64 a share in cash to shareholders of Central Bancorp Inc., United Central Bank’s holding company. United Central had nine branches in Texas, seven in the Chicago area and two in Virginia – all markets where Hanmi had no branches before the acquisition.
With United Central in hand, Hanmi has assets of $4.4 billion, making it the second largest Korean-American bank, behind Koreatown’s BBCN Bancorp Inc. The deal pushes Hanmi past another local lender, Wilshire Bancorp Inc.
