Taichung Commercial Bank (台中商銀) has signed an agreement to acquire US-based counterpart American Continental Bancorp (ACB) in a cash transaction, but the financial terms of the deal have yet to be finalized.
In a statement released on Thursday, the regional bank in central Taiwan said the acquisition would help it expand its business in North America and other parts of the world.
After the Taichung Bank board approved the deal at a board meeting on Oct. 1, the bank sent a delegation led by its chairman Wang Kuei-fong (王貴鋒) and president David Jia (賈德威) to California to sign the agreement, the statement said.
ACB is the holding company of California-headquartered American Continental Bank. Under the agreement, Taichung Bank would take American Continental Bank under its corporate umbrella as a subsidiary.
In a separate statement released by ACB on Oct. 1, the US banking group said the tentative acquisition price would hit approximately US$82.1 million, or about US$41.48 per share calculated as of June 30, 2022.
ACB said the actual cash consideration is to be determined at closing based upon a multiple of 1.83 times the adjusted book value of American Continental Bank after subtracting the costs of the transaction and other expenses.
American Continental Bank, which was set up on Oct. 6, 2003, is a full-service commercial bank with total assets of US$324.4 million, according to ACB.
It provides corporate banking services to Chinese-American communities in California and Washington.
Taichung Bank said it did not have an exact timeline on when the acquisition would be completed as the deal needs regulatory approval, but it indicated that its completion would represent another important step in the bank’s global expansion.
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