Pacific Trust Bank recently moved from Chula Vista to its new headquarters in Irvine, and it brought along a shopping list.
“We see Irvine as a central hub for commercial banking activity,” Chief Executive Gregory Mitchell said. “Our strategy is to grow throughout Southern California over the next five years to $5 billion” in assets.
The plan hinges on buying smaller banks and will likely wait until the thrift completes a couple of pending deals.
Parent First PacTrust Bancorp Inc. is in the process of wrapping up separate acquisitions of Manhattan Beach-based Beach Business Bank and Gateway Bancorp in Cerritos.
The acquisitions are expected to push PacTrust’s assets from about $1 billion to $1.5 billion, which would move it past Costa Mesa-based Pacific Mercantile Bank as the second-largest commercial bank based in Orange County, according to the Business Journal’s ranking.
Irvine-based Opus Bank holds the No. 1 spot, with assets that grew to $2.4 billion as a result of its acquisitions of Everett, Wash.-based Cascade Bank and Fullerton Community Bank in Fullerton last year.
Opus also is relatively new to the Orange County market as far as official headquarters go. It moved its main office to Irvine from Redondo Beach last year. It’s active in looking for acquisition targets in the West Coast.
PacTrust last week announced its year-end results for 2011, posting a loss of $3.3 million compared with a $1.9 million profit a year earlier. The loss came largely on costs related to its acquisition and move.
Its deposits totaled $786 million last year, up 22% from the end of 2010. Lending increased to $775.6 million, up 14% from a year earlier.
PacTrust technically is a savings and loan, and its loan portfolio is largely made up of mortgages.
The bank arrived to its new Irvine headquarters with 125 employees. Another wave is expected to join its mortgage business when it closes the Gateway deal, which includes its Mission Hills Mortgage Bankers subsidiary.
Santa Ana-based Mission Hills is Gateway’s mortgage-lending arm.
“Mortgage banking has been a source of pain in general,” Mitchell said. “Mission Hills is an originator. 85% of the products are for purchases. That’s been a steady business. It’s doing pretty good volume.”
The Mission Hills business will give PacTrust offices in Oregon, Arizona and Washington.
The deadline for the Gateway deal was recently extended. It was originally scheduled to close by April 30, according to the bank’s securities filing.
PacTrust pointed to the heightened scrutiny on transactions for the delay as the bank’s former regulator, the Office of Thrift Supervision, became part of Office of the Comptroller of the Currency last July.
Full integration of Gateway and Beach Business is expected in the second quarter.
PacTrust plans to continue operations in San Diego County through its seven branches. It recently opened a branch in Santa Monica, which is its third office in Los Angeles County. The bank has three branches in Riverside County and planned to open its first Orange County branch in Tustin this week.
