Irvine-based Commercial Capital Bancorp said Monday it plans to buy Timcor Exchange Corp. for $29.4 million in stock.
The acquisition doesn’t need the approval of shareholders or regulators and is set to close by the end of February, Commercial Capital said.
Los Angeles-based Timcor puts together tax-deferred real estate exchanges using Section 1031 of the tax code. The company was founded in 1977 and said it’s seen 29% growth in annual deal volume in the past decade.
Investors use section 1031 to avoid paying capital gains taxes on profits from the sale of office, commercial or other buildings. As long as they use the proceeds from one sale to buy another building within 180 days, they can avoid a big tax hit.
Last year Timcor said it handled 7,000 transactions, up 21% versus 2003. The company has offices in Texas and Florida, though most of its deals are with real estate investors in California.
Timcor and Commercial Capital formed a partnership a year ago. Timcor agreed to promote and refer Commercial Capital to its clients for banking, deposit and lending services.
Commercial Capital, meanwhile, has been referring its real estate investor clients to Timcor for 1031-exchange services under terms of the deal.
At the end of January, Timcor had about $127 million in exchange balances on deposit at Commercial Capital.
The acquisition price is 6.7 times Timcor’s net income last year of about $4.4 million.
Timcor is set to operate as an independent unit of Commercial Capital with President Timothy S. Harris continuing to head the operation. Harris also will become executive vice president with Commercial Capital.
Separately, Commercial Capital Commercial said it sold $15 million of preferred stock.
