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Investor and director Steven Sugarman will now share CEO duties with Gregory Mitchell at First PacTrust of Irvine, Calif. The company announced a bank deal Wednesday, and Sugarman is expected to take lead on nonbank deals.
August 22 -
The failures of banks in Southern California have left a fragmented market that is fertile ground for growth, says Gregory A. Mitchell, the president and CEO of First PacTrust.
December 2 -
A $9.07 a share, Beach Business Bank's comes at a 53% premium to the Manhattan Beach, Calif., seller's closing price.
August 31 -
Investors are now willing to put money into community lenders with credible business plans, sufficient scale, and executives who show "courage" and "fortitude," says Greg Mitchell, CEO of First PacTrust.
May 22
First PacTrust's plan to have
The $1.6 billion-asset company said late Friday that Gregory Mitchell, who
First PacTrust (BANC), a former credit union that converted to a savings bank, said on Friday that Sugarman would become its sole CEO. The company also said that Robert M. Franko had become the chief executive of its Pacific Trust Bank. Franko was already the company's president and the chief executive of Beach Business Bank, a $311 million-asset bank that
Franko will be in charge of an effort to merge Pacific Trust Bank and Beach Business Bank, a move designed to realize "numerous financial and strategic synergies," Timothy R. Chrisman, the company's chairman, said in a press release.
Mitchell will serve as a consultant to the company for up to six months, the release said. "As a result of the company's strong current position, it became clear to me that this was the perfect time for me to step away and pursue personal goals," Mitchell said in a press release.
Efforts to reach First PacTrust and Mitchell for further comment were unsuccessful.
The move surprised Joe Gladue, an analyst at B. Riley, though he said in an interview that he thought the co-CEO plan was a strange move that was unlikely to last over the long term. "Certainly, an arrangement like that is not very common … although I had no preconceived notions as to how long it would actually last," he said. "I can't say I thought of it as a sign of Greg resigning."
Gladue said First PacTrust held an analyst day shortly after it completed the Beach Business Bank acquisition. Gladue said he realized at that event that Franko would become a major player in the company's future, though he did not witness any acrimony. "I detected no signs of ill will," he said.
