53.8 F
Laguna Hills
Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024
-Advertisement-

Biggest SBA Lenders Give OC Borrowers $161.3M

Loans made by the largest SBA lenders operating in Orange County totaled $161.3 million in the six-month span through March, a jump of nearly 77% compared with a year earlier, according to this week’s Business Journal list.

The list tracks the 20 largest SBA lenders, ranking them by the dollar value of loans made to businesses here during the first half of the Small Business Administration’s fiscal 2013.

Not all of the financial institutions are headquartered in Orange County.

Last year’s list comprised a different group of top 20 lenders, which collectively made $132.8 million in SBA loans, reflecting a 9% decline from totals notched in the prior year.

This week’s entries combined for 222 SBA loans overall as of the end of March, versus 163 a year ago.

Topping the List

The two largest lenders kept their spots.

• San Diego-based CDC Small Business Finance Corp. topped the list despite an 11% decrease to $25.1 million in loans. The nonprofit has an office in Anaheim, which houses seven employees, including two loan officers.

Davis: Southland Economic Development Corp. lending more to small businesses

Small Business Finance gets together with a private-sector third party on each loan made through the government’s 504 program, which provides long-term financing to purchase fixed assets, typically real estate.

The organization made 33 loans from October through March, down from 37 a year earlier.

• No. 2 Wells Fargo Bank was the largest bank lender, with a 16% increase in SBA loans to $19.4 million. The San Francisco-based bank, which has offices in Irvine and Orange, had the highest number of loans made in Orange County, at 43, down from 45 a year ago.

Wells Fargo was among the 16 banks and lending organizations on the list that saw gains in loan volume. Two institutions saw drops, and 2012 figures for an additional two weren’t available.

• Santa Ana-based Southland Economic Development Corp. moved up two spots to No. 4, with a total of $11.1 million in SBA loans from October through March, up about 78% from the same span a year earlier. Southland, which has 16 employees here, specializes in the 504 program.

“We’re certainly doing more, and I think a lot of it is [thanks to] just more transactions going on now,” said Matt Davis, president and chief operating officer. “It seems like property values are starting to stabilize a bit, and everybody wants to get in on it during the trough so they can take advantage of the upswing.”

• No. 6 U.S. Bank made $7.1 million in SBA loans in OC, compared with $1.5 million a year earlier. It made 30 loans, the third-highest number on the list, an increase from the year-ago total of 18.

“We do both 7(a) and 504 [programs] aggressively,” said Mason Carlton, vice president and business development officer at the bank’s Orange office.

The 7(a) SBA program is designed to help entrepreneurs start or expand businesses.

“There’s nothing magical,” Carlton said. “We’re just working really hard and being aggressive. It does seem that [companies’] financials are improving. People have held off for years and are now stepping up. That’s part of it, as well.”

Carlton pointed to a set of government incentives for SBA lenders and borrowers that were in place a few years ago, including an increase in the government guarantee on 7(a) loans from 75% to 90% and fee waivers on major loan programs.

“All the incentives have sunset,” he said. “We’re hoping to get maybe one of those things back, but we don’t know yet.”

• No. 13 Long Beach-based Advantage Certified Development Corp. made one loan over the list period, providing $5.5 million, which is the maximum amount in the range of loans offered by Advantage and by other typical certified development companies, which are nonprofits regulated by the SBA.

The agency sets a ceiling on financing by such organizations at 40% of the total project cost, or a maximum of $5.5 million for manufacturers and $5 million for other businesses.

• Pacific Enterprise Bank made the ranks at No. 15, with $4.5 million in SBA loans here in the past two quarters, a 65% growth year over year. It had four borrowers here, unchanged from a year ago.

Broadening

The Irvine-based bank recently “broadened our marketplace to include all Western states,” as it saw more lenders entering the OC marketplace and going for the “same size pie,” said President Brian Halle.

“We did not want to change our underwriting [or] loosen our standards. … With a larger amount of opportunities to choose from, we can get the volume we want without compromising,” Halle said.

• The Garden Grove office of Los Angeles-based Hanmi Bank made $4.1 million in SBA loans here, good for the No. 20 spot on the list. The amount compares with Hanmi’s year-ago total of $1.9 million. It had two borrowers both years.

• Commonwealth Business Bank in Irvine saw a 24% drop in lending to $4.2 million, along with a decline in the number of loans from 10 to six. The bank fell 10 spots to No. 18.

A couple of out-of-state banks made the list based on SBA loans made to OC businesses.

• No. 7 Wilmington, N.C.-based Live Oak Banking Co. made six loans here in the past six months, totaling $6.9 million, up more than tenfold from $611,000 a year ago in a single loan.

• Meadows Bank in Las Vegas was No. 16, with $4.4 million in loans here, up 77% year over year. It had one loan as of March.

Download the 2013 OC’s BIGGEST SBA LENDERS list (pdf)

Want more from the best local business newspaper in the country?

Sign-up for our FREE Daily eNews update to get the latest Orange County news delivered right to your inbox!

-Advertisement-

Featured Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-

Related Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-