Pacific Premier Bancorp To Buy Plaza Bancorp In $226.3 Mln All-stock Deal

(RTTNews) - Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc. (PPBI), the holding company of Pacific Premier Bank, announced Wednesday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Plaza Bancorp (PLZZ) in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $226.3 million.

The deal price is $7.29 per share, based on a closing price for Pacific Premier's common stock of $36.45 as of August 8.

The Company expects the transaction to be immediately accretive to earnings per share and tangible book value per share.

Pacific Premier said the earnings per share accretion estimates are based on estimated costs savings of approximately 35% of Plaza's non-interest expense, with 75% of the cost savings phased-in during 2018 and 100% phased-in during 2019.

Under the deal terms, upon consummation of the transaction, each Plaza stockholder will have the right to receive 0.200 shares of Pacific Premier stock. Based on a $36.45 closing price of Pacific Premier's stock on August 8, the aggregate merger consideration is approximately $226.3 million or $7.29 per share of Plaza stock.

Existing Pacific Premier shareholders will own approximately 86.9% of the outstanding shares of the combined company and Plaza shareholders are expected to own approximately 13.1%.

California -based Plaza, the holding company of Plaza Bank, holds $1.3 billion in total assets, $1.1 billion in gross loans and $1.1 billion in total deposits as of June 30.

The transaction will increase Pacific Premier's total assets to approximately $7.7 billion on a pro forma basis.

Following the deal, Carpenter Fund Manager GP, LLC, which manages funds that currently own approximately 86% of the outstanding shares of Plaza stock, may designate one individual to serve on the Boards of Directors of the Company and Pacific Premier Bank for so long as such funds own at least 9.9% of Pacific Premier's outstanding shares of stock.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2017 or early first quarter of 2018, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals and approval of Plaza's shareholders.