BBCN Bancorp and Wilshire Bancorp have agreed to merge in a $1bn all-stock deal, which will create the only super regional Korean-American bank in the US.
Under the terms of the deal, which has already secured the nod from the boards of directors of both firms, shareholders of Wilshire will secure a fixed exchange ratio of 0.7034 of a share of BBCN common stock for each share of Wilshire common stock they own.
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BBCN shareholders will own 59% of the combined company, while Wilshire shareholders will own the remaining 41%.
It will operate under a new name, managing $12.3bn in total assets, $9.6bn in gross loans, and $10bn in deposits.
BBCN chairman, president and CEO Kevin Kim will spearhead the combined entity as president and CEO, whereas Board of Wilshire chairman Steven Koh will assume the role of chairman in the combined company.
The board of the combined company will initially include nine directors from BBCN and seven directors from Wilshire.
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By GlobalDataCommenting on the merger, Koh said: "This historic merger of equals combines the top two commercial lenders in the Korean-American banking space and creates for the first time a super regional Korean-American franchise that will also be the 7th largest publicly traded bank headquartered in California.
"The combination of BBCN and Wilshire will create an unrivaled organization with the only national platform providing full banking services in all of the major geographic markets in the United States with sizeable Korean-American communities."
