Deals & Dealmakers: Pacific City Plans IPO

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Koreatown-based bank Pacific City Financial Corp. filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission July 17 announcing plans for an initial public offering on Nasdaq.

The bank plans to raise up to $50 million.

Pacific City Financial, which does business as Pacific City Bank, did not disclose in its S-1 registration statement with the SEC the number of shares it plans to sell or the price at which it plans to sell them.

The bank has $1.6 billion in assets, deposits of $1.4 billion and $1.2 billion in total loans. It’s filing listed a market capitalization of $147.2 million.

Pacific City had net income of $16.4 million in 2017, though it said in its S-1 filing it adjusted that number to $18 million due to “a deferred tax asset reevaluation” windfall as a result of the recent federal tax code overhaul. The company had 2016 net income of $14 million.

Pacific City primarily serves the Korean-American market in Southern California, with eight bank branches in Los Angeles County and three in Orange County. Pacific City has also recently expanded outside of the SoCal market with branches in New York and New Jersey.

Pacific City is third-largest Korean-American bank based in the U.S., measured by assets. It trails only Hope Bancorp Inc. (Bank of Hope), which has $14.5 billion in assets, and Hanmi Financial Corp. (Hanmi Bank), which has $5.3 billion in assets. Both Pacific City competitors also are based in Koreatown.

Shamrock Lets Go of Giant

Westwood-based investment firm Shamrock Capital Advisors has sold its majority stake in Giant Creative Strategy in a deal valued at up to $97 million.

The company announced July 18 it had completed the sale of its San Francisco-based health care marketing agency to Huntsworth, a global health care and communications company based in London.

Giant Creative Strategy, among the largest independent health care marketing agencies in the U.S., provides services for the biopharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostic industries. It has 150 employees.

Huntsworth paid $72.2 million in cash at closing to Shamrock Capital Growth Fund III. The transaction is valued at up to $97.2 million based on Giant’s future performance.

“This is the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the team at Giant,” said Will Wynperle, a partner at Shamrock Capital, in a statement. “It has been a pleasure working with the team over the past several years during this critical phase of growth.”

Shamrock Capital Advisors, founded in 1978 as the family investment company of the late Roy Disney, claims $1.9 billion assets under management in media, entertainment and communications.

Shamrock Capital was ranked No. 20 on the Business Journal’s most recent list of largest private equity firm in Los Angeles County.

Pocket Watch

Culver City-based children’s digital media platform Pocketwatch Inc. closed July 18 a $15 million Series B round led by Viacom Inc.

Other investors included Arts District-based venture capital firm Greycroft Partners and Beverly Hills-based UTA Ventures, the VC arm of United Talent Agency Inc.

The deal also includes a commercial contract between Pocketwatch and Viacom, which covers content advertising and talent.

Have a deal tip? Henry Meier can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 556-8321.

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