Opus Bank has found a veteran leader with plenty of experience in mergers and acquisitions.
The Irvine-based bank (Nasdaq: OPB), the third largest based in Orange County, on May 1 named Paul W. Taylor as chief executive and president, effective immediately.
Taylor most recently was the chief executive of Denver-based Guaranty Bancorp from 2011 until last December when his bank was sold for about $1 billion to Independent Bank Group Inc. (Nasdaq: IBTX).
“Mr. Taylor comes to Opus with a significant amount of executive experience from his 34-year career in the financial services industry,” Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Jacquelynne Bohlen wrote in a note to investors.
Speculation has been circulating on Wall Street and in Orange County that Opus is up for deals.
The new chief executive counts his share of expertise in corporate sales.
Taylor’s résumé includes being chief financial officer at Centennial Bank Holdings until its 2004 acquisition by Guaranty Bancorp, director of mergers and acquisitions for Alex Sheshunoff Investment Banking, and director of investment banking with Century Capital Group.
Follows Greig, Gordon
Taylor, who was also named to the board, takes over a bank with a $7.7 billion in assets, about twice the $3.8 billion that Guaranty had at the time of its sale.
He succeeds Paul G. Greig, chairman of Opus’ board, who served as interim chief executive after the departure last November of founder Stephen Gordon.
Gordon founded the bank in 2010 and spurred its expansion through a series of acquisitions and organic growth.
Cracks began appearing in 2016 when it ran into problems with commercial loans and announced $38.8 million in charge-offs. It was forced to raise cash and suspended its dividend. Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. gave the bank low marks for governance and audit and risk oversights.
Gordon worked to resolve these problems and the share price gradually increased, topping $30 last June. Then the shares dropped 22% in one day last October after third-quarter results didn’t meet analysts’ expectations.
Taylor’s statement in the May 1 press release announcing his hire hinted at the problems Opus has faced.
“I am confident in the team’s ability to restore Opus’ growth momentum, while maintaining an appropriate risk profile,” Taylor said.
Investors haven’t reacted much to either Gordon’s departure, up about 9% since November, or the arrival of Taylor, up about 1% in the three trading session after the May 1 announcement.
The bank last week reported first-quarter net income of $10.9 million, or 29 cents a share, compared with a loss of $6.9 million, or 20 cents, in the same period a year earlier.
Analyst Bohlen said she expects Taylor to outline his strategy in July when the bank reports its second-quarter results.
“OPB is far along on its road to recovery after 2016’s credit challenges that contributed to lower profitability and net portfolio contraction in 2017 and 2018,” she said.
Korn Ferry was retained to assist with identifying banking candidates for the post.
