Local banks are on the menu for a Pennsylvania investor with a partner stationed in Irvine.
Context Capital Partners, based just outside of Philadelphia, has invested in four Orange County-based banks as part of its bid to buy stakes in small banks it hopes might be bought by larger ones.
The firm has invested in Irvine-based Pacific Enterprise Bank, taking a 9.7% stake, and has an undisclosed stake in Newport Beach-based Commerce National Bank.
Context also has invested in two other OC banks it declined to name.
The managers of Context’s bank fund, Yaron Brook in Irvine and Robert Hendershott in San Jose, have another $10 million they’re looking to invest. They’ve invested about $34 million so far.
Context could invest in about a dozen more banks by year’s end.
“The good thing is we haven’t been competing with many other buyers,” Hendershott said.
Context also owns shares of San Marcos-based Discovery Bancorp, which is being bought by Irvine-based Commerce West Bank NA in a deal expected to close in the third quarter.
For more on this story, read the June 8 issue of the Business Journal.
