Costa Mesa-based Pacific Mercantile Bancorp Inc. appointed a representative of one of its new investors to its board of directors.
The parent company of Pacific Mercantile Bank tapped Daniel Strauss, senior vice president of New York-based Clinton Group Inc.
Clinton Group, which manages about $2.5 billion in assets, got the right to name one board member when its affiliate SBAV LP bought 75,000 shares of Pacific Mercantile preferred stock in August.
The purchase was part of the bank’s $11.2 million stock sale completed in September. The stock sale to three investors provided the second-largest commercial bank based in OC with enough cushion to satisfy a capital requirement order from the California Depart-ment of Financial Institutions.
Two funds of Irvine-based Carpenter & Co. —Carpenter Commun-ity Bank-Fund LP and Carpenter Community Banc-Fund-A LP—were the other investors that bought stock.
Clinton Group’s current stake in Pacific Mercantile’s preferred stock would translate into about 10% of the bank’s outstanding common stock if converted.
Pacific Mercantile expects to sell another $11.8 million worth of the preferred shares to the same three investors in coming months.
• Headquarters: Costa Mesa
• Business: banking
• Founded: 1998
• Ticker symbol: PMBC (Nasdaq)
• Market value: about $40 million
• Notable: named representative of recent investor Clinton Group Inc. to board; seeking replacement for Ray Dellerba as chief executive of Pacific Mercantile Bank
SBAV is expected to purchase 10,000 preferred shares for $1 million in cash in that deal.
Pacific Mercantile also plans to sell $15.5 million in common stock to the Carpenter funds.
Carpenter & Co. will have the right to name three members to the bank’s 10-seat board once the sale of the additional shares closes.
Pacific Mercantile Bank recently an-nounced that it is seeking a chief executive to replace Ray Dellerba after the scheduled stock sale wraps up.
Dellerba is expected to become vice chairman and retain the chief executive’s post for holding company Pacific Mercantile Bancorp. He plans to focus on strategic initiatives after he steps away from his day-to-day duties at the bank.
