Fortunes from finance link several of Orange County’s wealthiest.
Some are specialty lenders who have built and sold companies, including Richard John “R.J.” Brandes and Roger Kirwan.
Others have started and grown banks and thrifts, such as Maurice McAlister of Downey Financial Corp. and Larry Dodge of American Sterling Bank.
Then there are investors such as Bob Hoff of Crosspoint Venture Partners and Chuck Martin of Mont Pelerin Capital LLC, who have grown rich placing bets on startups and other companies.
Finance hasn’t created the epic fortunes here that real estate and technology have. But the sector claims at least one billionaire: Bill Gross of Pacific Investment Management Co.
Gross led the formation of bond fund manager Pimco in 1971 as part of what’s now Newport Beach-based Pacific Life Insurance Co.
Pimco now manages $700 billion in money from institutions and other investors.
At one point, Gross is believed to have earned $1 million a quarter in salary and dividends.
In 2000, Germany’s Allianz AG bought Pimco for $3.3 billion, earning Gross a reported $400 million.
Allianz then offered him a $200 million, five-year contract to stay on.
In 2005 and again in May, Allianz renewed Gross’ contract for undisclosed terms.
Another Pimco cofounder, William Podlich, is estimated to be among the county’s centimillionaires.
Podlich was chief executive until 1993 and serves as a consulting managing director.
In lending, financier Kirwan has made a career out of tapping niches.
In 1980, he started Ganis Credit Corp., which made loans to buyers of recreational vehicles and boats. He sold it to BankBoston in 1995. The company later traded hands to Deutsche Bank AG and E-Trade Financial Corp. before becoming part of General Electric Co.’s GE Money.
Kirwan stayed with Ganis until about 2000, when he left to focus on philanthropy, including serving as head of the Orange County Performing Arts Center.
He helped the center issue tax-exempt bonds to pay for construction of the Ren & #233;e and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which debuted in 2006.
In 2003, Kirwan tapped another lending niche with Woodside Credit, which lends to buyers of classic cars. The Business Journal estimates Woodside does about $175 million in loans a year.
Brandes, another lender, sold a pair of finance companies he started.
In 1997, he sold Belgravia Capital Corp., a commercial finance and real estate mortgage bank, to Finova Group in a deal said to be worth $90 million. Around the same time, he sold Belgravia Financial Services LLC, a lender to mobile home buyers, to Ford Motor Credit.
Since selling his lending companies, Brandes has run Blenheim EquiSports of California Inc., operator of Blenheim Farms, the county’s most notable equestrian estate.
The 17-acre San Juan Capistrano estate is up for sale for $40 million.
Brandes also is chairman of Gatekeeper Systems Inc., an Irvine company that seeks to prevent shopping cart theft with wheels that lock up when a cart is taken from a store’s parking lot.
Among bankers, Downey’s McAlister is among the wealthiest here.
McAlister’s wealth comes from the Newport Beach-based savings and loan company, plus real estate investments.
He now lives in Bullhead, Ariz., and comes to town once a month or so for board meetings and to look after his 20% stake in Downey.
He started the thrift in 1957 with the late Gerald H. McQuarrie. The business was based on lending to small, neighborhood shopping centers, usually anchored by a supermarket or drug store.
These days, mortgages dominate at Downey, which has seen its valuation slip about 20% in the past year with the mortgage downturn.
Downey had a recent market value of $1.4 billion.
Dodge of American Sterling is another rich banker.
He’s founder and chief executive of American Sterling Bank, based in Foothill Ranch.
In 1969, Dodge began building American Sterling Bank in Missouri, where the bank still has its operational headquarters.
American Sterling provides retail and commercial banking services as well as insurance and investing.
The richest banker the county’s seen so far is Ernest Rady, a La Jolla resident who ran Irvine-based thrift Westcorp Inc. He’s been valued at as much as $3 billion.
In 2006, Wachovia Corp. paid $3.9 billion for Westcorp and auto finance unit WFS Financial, a move that cut Rady’s ties to OC.
In investing, two OC residents have struck it big enough to make our list of centimillionaires.
Martin made his mark in venture capital as cofounder of Enterprise Partners Venture Capital, where he retired in 1999 as managing partner.
Martin now serves as chairman, chief executive and chief investment officer of hedge fund Mont Pelerin Capital LLC, where he has invested $25 million of own money.
Another venture capitalist, Hoff of Crosspoint Venture Partners, also ranks among the centimillionaires in the county.
Hoff is the general partner in Irvine of Woodside-based Crosspoint Venture Partners.
