Following Collapse Of Other Regional Banks, PacWest Weighs Sale
Beverly Hills-based PacWest Bancorp, a peer bank of Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic, has been in talks about a number of options for its future, including a possible sale.
PacWest is also looking at breaking itself up or a capital raise, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
Commercial real estate and multifamily loans account for 21% and 15%, respectively, of PacWest's loan portfolio, April filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show. Of PacWest's $25.7B in total loans, commercial real estate accounts for about $3.8B. Within that category, 3%, or $803M, of those loans are for office properties.
The report came after Tuesday's news that JPMorgan Chase bought the failed First Republic Bank, the second-largest bank collapse in U.S. history.
The sale of the company as a whole has been hampered by the lack of buyers interested in buying the entire bank, Bloomberg said. Any buyer would likely take a hefty loss from having to mark down some of the bank's loans, the publication noted.
The company, made up of a community lender, Pacific Western Bank, and commercial and consumer lending businesses, filed a response to the report with the SEC that said PacWest "has been approached by several potential partners and investors — discussions are ongoing" and noting that the company will continue to consider all options that would maximize shareholder value.
PacWest has lost about 85% of its value since the beginning of March, Bloomberg reported.
