At first glance, Irvine lender Plaza Bank’s agreement to buy El Segundo’s Bank of Manhattan last month seemed like just the latest deal between two small Southern California institutions, as many of them have been feeling the pressure from a more expensive regulatory environment.
But developments since then have been out of the ordinary.
Manhattan’s former chief executive, Terry Robinson, resigned from the company Dec. 31 and died Jan. 11. The firm did not disclose either event publicly, although Robinson played a major role in negotiating the acquisition. As a closely held bank, it didn’t have to, and only confirmed the news when trade publication American Banker asked. Late last week, Robinson was still listed as chief executive on Manhattan’s website.
And just last week, Manhattan agreed to sell its mortgage-lending business to Koreatown’s Wilshire Bancorp Inc. The lending business, started in 2010, has originated more than $3 billion in loans. Manhattan President Rick Sowers said the sale was made to focus the bank’s resources on its primary business, and is part of the same strategy that led it to be acquired by Plaza.
“The bank made the decision to exit the mortgage business to increase its focus and resources on the bank’s core mission of providing high-quality commercial and private banking services to its client base,” Sowers said in an email to the Business Journal. “It was important to us that we find a strategic partner for the mortgage division that had the resources to operate and manage that business.”
Sowers said he expects the merger to close in the second quarter, assuming regulators and shareholders sign off as expected.
He also said Manhattan employees were saddened by Robinson’s sudden death but declined to elaborate.
Linked In
El Segundo enterprise software company CapLinked provides virtual data rooms where investors and analysts can review proprietary company information while doing due diligence on a potential acquisition. Last month, the firm announced a new product, FileProtect, which allows users to revoke access to files even after they’ve been downloaded by a third party.
CapLinked Chief Executive Eric Jackson said the data room industry’s two dominant players, IntraLinks Holdings Inc. in New York and Merrill Corp. in St. Paul, Minn., tend to cater to the biggest players, creating an opportunity for his firm to serve the rank and file of the dealmaking universe.
“Data rooms were only serving the bulge bracket,” he said. “They’re spending a lot of time and money kissing up to expensive investment bankers.”
Jackson said the initial response to FileProtect has been overwhelmingly positive, not least because the product is easy to use and requires no extra software to be downloaded.
“People are basically beaten down in terms of the solutions they have,” he said. “If you come up with something that is easy to use, secure and customized for them, they appreciate it.”
West Monroe West
West Monroe Partners, a Chicago tech and business consulting firm, opened an L.A. office in January 2014. But that temporary space soon proved insufficient, so the firm moved last month to a larger space in downtown L.A.’s Wedbush Center.
And now, Ken Siegman, a senior director at the firm who runs the L.A. office, is ready to welcome the rest of the team to Southern California.
West Monroe will be holding its upcoming quarterly meeting in Los Angeles, giving many of Siegman’s colleagues a reprieve from the Chicago winter.
Siegman leads a team of nine employees in the L.A. office and hopes to be at 25 by year’s end. He said Los Angeles is an integral market, especially for the firm’s tech consulting practice.
“We’re seeing a lot of opportunities out here in the customer resource management space,” he said. “Also, we do a lot of smart-grid energy deals and Southern California is sort of the center of that.”
The new office has been successful so far, said Siegman, and he anticipates an even bigger presence for West Monroe in Southern California in the near future.
“We’re probably going to want to open an Orange County office as well as satellite offices across the city,” he said.
C-Suite News
Merrill Lynch has hired wealth manager Bruce Munster. Munster, who was formerly at Morgan Stanley, will be based in Merrill Lynch’s Century City office. … San Diego asset management firm Pure Financial is opening a Woodland Hills branch, its first in the L.A.-area, Feb. 23. Chief Executive Michael Fenison set a goal of opening three more branches in the area over the next 24 months … Beverly Hills accounting firm NSBN has named three new managers: Joyce Fang, Kalina Grayson and Randal Nachenberg.
Staff reporter Matt Pressberg can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 230.
