L.A.’s largest bank has a new home sorta.
City National Bank, the $16.9 billion-in-assets subsidiary of City National Corp., said last week that it has moved its headquarters from Beverly Hills, where it had been since 1955, to downtown Los Angeles.
Because City National already occupies 15 floors of downtown office space in City National Plaza at 555 S. Flower St., which has served as its administrative headquarters since 2004, the change is more symbolic than logistic. But it does mark the end of an era for a bank long associated with Frank Sinatra, Hollywood stars and the moneyed elite of Beverly Hills.
The Beverly Hills office will continue to house the entertainment, wealth management, personal trust and Westside private client services divisions.
More Millionaires
Despite the widespread carnage across the investment landscape of recent years, 2008 was not all bad for the upper crust in Los Angeles.
Even as the economy was turning south in mid-2008, the number of millionaire households in Los Angeles was up more than 10 percent from a year prior, according to a study recently released by Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and Capgemini.
As of May 2008, the most recent month for which L.A.-specific numbers are available, Los Angeles boasted 235,054 millionaire households up 10 percent from 2007 and more than 27 percent higher than 2006.
It’s likely that the number of millionaire households dipped later in 2008 as the financial crisis worsened. However, the number of millionaire households is projected to rise 26 percent over the next five years, according to the report, outpacing the total growth of L.A. households.
Jeff Fishman, president of JSF Financial LLC in Los Angeles, said the economic diversity of Southern California certainly has helped Los Angeles avoid serious loss of wealth, though the latter half of the year was punishing.
“The fact that we’re not as financially focused certainly helps but we do have a strong real estate focus,” he said. “L.A. has gotten hit as hard as many parts of the country, except maybe the Northeast.”
Shamrock Attack
Shamrock Activist Value Fund LP continued its very public proxy battle with Texas Industries Inc. last week after the Dallas cement company reported terrible quarterly earnings.
Seizing on the earnings revelations, Shamrock, one of five investment funds managed by Roy Disney’s Shamrock Capital Advisors Inc., stepped up its criticism of the company’s board.
“Texas Industries’ quarterly loss demonstrates the need for new directors committed to providing the necessary oversight and holding management accountable for poor performance,” Dennis Johnson, Shamrock managing director, said in a statement.
Shamrock announced plans June 29 to nominate three new directors to the company’s board. The fund owns more than 10 percent of Texas Industries’ outstanding shares.
The announcement came after the company had reported dismal earnings for several consecutive quarters amid a widespread decline in global construction activity. On July 15, Texas Industries posted a $42.4 million loss for the fiscal fourth quarter that fell far short of Wall Street expectations.
Texas Industries did not respond to requests for comment.
Platinum Bid
A federal bankruptcy judge is expected as early as Monday to decide whether Platinum Equity’s bid for bankrupt auto parts supplier Delphi Corp. will be accepted.
Platinum, a Beverly Hills private equity firm founded by billionaire Tom Gores, submitted a bid in early June to acquire certain of Delphi’s assets. As part of the deal, General Motors Corp. would acquire several Delphi plants and its steering division.
After Delphi’s creditors complained about the government-brokered deal, a judge ordered the bid to be reopened. No additional bidders emerged before the July 10 deadline; however, Delphi’s creditors submitted an intent to file a credit bid. That means they would take ownership of the company by forgiving the debt rather than paying money.
Platinum responded to the creditors plan for the credit bid by restating its position that it had been in a longstanding effort to take over Delphi.
C-Suite News
Robert Moore has been named executive vice president and chief credit officer of 1st Century Bancshares Inc., the Century City parent of 1st Century Bank. Diamond Capital Partners, a Century City investment bank, announced that Katherine Makinney has been named the firm’s sixth managing partner.
Staff reporter Richard Clough can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 251.
