Downtown-based RBB Bancorp – the parent company of Royal Business Bank – is expanding its footprint into New York with the $116.8 million acquisition of First American International Corp.
The cash-and-stock deal announced last week comes less than a year after RBB went public. It give its shareholders an 84.6 percent stake, with First American shareholders 15.4 percent of RBB.
RBB shelled out $33 million in cash and 3 million shares in the transaction.
First American has $873 million in total assets, $715 million in total gross loans, and total deposits of $630 million as of December 31, 2017.
The acquisition boosts RBB total assets above $2.5 billion, according to a Security and Exchange Commission filing.
Both banks primarily service the Asian-American community, specifically Chinese Americans.
RBB Chief Executive and Chairman Alan Thian said in a statement the shared focus on these customers made First International a prime acquisition target.
“We are very pleased to announce this transaction with First American, which enables us to expand the RBB franchise to the New York market and serve its large community of Asian-Americans,” Thian said. “First American is an excellent cultural fit with RBB, as we have complementary business models, strong residential mortgage loan production platforms, and a focus on the Chinese-American market.”
First American Chairman Raymond Yu will join the board of RBB as vice chairman as part of the deal.
RBB stock was up 21.4 percent to $27.93 on April 26 from its July 26, 2017 initial public offering price of $23.
Cloud Consolidation
Reliam, a South Bay-based company that manages public cloud computing platforms for other businesses, announced last week the acquisition of Stratalux, another South Bay-based cloud services company.
The companies declined to disclose the deal price.
Both Reliam and Stratalux work with Amazon.com Inc.’s Web Services cloud management platform; Reliam also works with Microsoft Corp.’s Azure platform.
The merger adds Stratalux’s 24 employees to Reliam’s existing headcount of 34.
Reliam is acquiring Stratalux through an investment by Great Hill Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm and an investor in Reliam since 2017. Great Hill targets investments ranging from $25 to $150 million, according to its website.
“We have been impressed with Stratalux’s successes in the (Amazon Web Services) cloud services ecosystem, and our teams are really excited to be joining forces,” Reliam Chief Executive Officer Simon Anderson said in a statement.
The combined company will have more than 100 clients in the media, entertainment, mobile games, digital media, marketing, e-commerce and software-as-a-service (SaaS) sectors, the companies said.
High on Plastics
Brentwood-based private equity firm Highview Capital’s first portfolio company, American Plastics, acquired two Ohio-based manufacturing companies, the company announced on April 18. Terms of the deal were undisclosed.
St. Louis, Mo.-based American Plastics, makers of consumer storage and cleaning products, acquired Centrex Plastics and Creative Plastics Concepts. The former is a plastic injection-molding company and the latter makes plastic totes, containers and shelving.
American Plastics will now operate 15 facilities nationwide, including five manufacturing plants and 10 distribution centers, the company said.
Hopped-up on Hopster
Sony Pictures Television Networks, a Culver City subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corp., upped its investment in London-based Hopster, a subscription app for young children, according to an April 25 announcement.
The announcement didn’t disclose the size of the entertainment conglomerate’s investment, beyond stating it was a multi-million dollar buy-in. A spokesman for Hopster declined to disclose the investment’s terms.
Sony became a minority stakeholder in Hopster in 2016, and also took a seat that year on the company’s board.
Hopster characterizes itself as a “nurturing digital environment” for preschool-aged
children.
“We recognize digital is a crucial element to our business, particularly in the kids’ market where tablets are the choice of device for our audience,” Kate Marsh, executive vice president of Sony Pictures Television’s Western Europe International Networks division said in a statement.
Have a deal tip? Henry Meier can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 556-8321.
